LIBRARY 

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JfcVINE 


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<a<»->-»  c<  est 


MEMOIRS 

HISTORICAL 
AND   EDIFYING 

OF  A 

MISSIONARY  APOSTOLIC 

Of  the  Order  of  Saint  Dominic  Among  Various 

Indian  Tribes  and  Among  the  Catholics 

and  Protestants  in  the  United 

States  of  America 


WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION  BY 

THE  MOST  REVEREND  JOHN  IRELAND,  D.  D. 
ARCHBISHOP  OF  SAINT  PAUL 


Press  of 
W.  F.  HALL  PRINTING  COMPANY,  CHICAGO 

1915 


3 


W06 


s^iy-t^^^^^yy^t^c/^- 


^*^f  &***2«x ,  ^^-  *£?-  /^y^* 


3  + 


COPYRIGHT 

BY 

SAINT  CLARA  COLLEGE 

Sinsinaiva,  Wisconsin 

1915 


INTRODUCTION 

By  the   Most  Reverend  John   Ireland 
Archbishop  of  St.  Paul 

Whenever  the  pen  of  the  historian  traces  in  merited  color- 
ings the  work  of  the  Catholic  Church,  during  the  middle 
decades  of  the  nineteenth  century,  in  Michigan  and  in  Wis- 
consin, in  Illinois  and  in  Iowa,  a  picture  surely  is  there  of 
singular  beauty  of  characterization,  of  singular  power  of  in- 
spiration— that  which  delineates  the  personality  and  the 
achievements  of  Samuel  Charles  Mazzuchelli. 

Great  priests,  great  missionaries  were  at  work  in  laying  the 
foundations  of  the  marvelous  structure  that  today  is  the  Cath- 
olic Church  in  the  North  Middle  States  of  the  American 
Union.  We  recall  the  names  of  saints  and  heroes — Baraga  of 
Marquette ;  Henni  and  Kundig  of  Milwaukee ;  Loras  and  Pela- 
mourgues  of  Dubuque;  Cretin,  Galtier  and  Ravoux  of  St. 
Paul.  The  list,  however,  were  not  complete,  did  not  the  read- 
ing repeat  the  name  of  Mazzuchelli.  Mazzuchelli  was  the 
peer  of  the  best  and  the  most  memorable — the  peer  in  virtues 
that  compose  the  great  priest,  in  deeds  that  brighten  the  pas- 
sage of  the  great  missionary. 

More  yet — Mazzuchelli  is  unique  among  the  men  whom 
we  account  as  our  Fathers  in  the  faith — unique  in  this,  that 
among  them  he  was  first  on  the  ground,  first  to  turn  the 
ploughshare.  Others  came  later  to  take  up  the  work  he  had 
begun,  to  direct  and  foster  the  growth  of  what  he  had  planted. 
At  his  entrance  into  his  labors  Mazzuchelli  was  the  solitary 
priest,  from  the  waters  of  Lakes  Huron  and  Michigan  to 
those  of  the  Mississippi  River,  across  the  wide-spreading 
prairies  and  forests  of  Wisconsin  and  of  Iowa.  Baraga 
arrived  at  Arbre  Croche,  on  the  northeastern  coast  of  Lake 

iii 


iv  INTRODUCTION 

Michigan,  more  than  a  year  after  Mazzuchelli  had  said  his 
first  mass  on  the  Island  of  Mackinac.  Mazzuchelli  had  plied 
his  canoe  on  the  upper  Mississippi  River  several  years  before 
Loras  was  at  Dubuque,  or  Galtier  in  St.  Paul.  Others  followed 
in  his  footsteps :  he  had  been  the  pathfinder  in  the  wilderness. 

Priests,  indeed,  had  passed  over  the  lands  later  crossed 
and  recrossed  by  Mazzuchelli — but  only  in  a  manner  that  was 
transient  and  desultory.  Jesuit  Fathers  had  been  there,  the 
valorous  teachers  of  the  Ottawa,  the  Menominee  and  the 
Chippewa :  but  their  missions  had  ceased  towards  the  middle 
of  the  eighteenth  century.  Since  that  time  priests  were  seen 
now  and  then  around  Mackinac  and  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  around 
Galena  and  Prairie  du  Chien;  but  to  the  labors  of  none  was 
there  given  continuity  of  succession.  The  first  to  do  the  work 
that  was  to  have  permanency  was  Samuel  Charles  Mazzu- 
chelli. 

Unique,  too,  he  is  under  another  aspect — the  picturesque- 
ness,  the  radiance  of  romance  and  poetry,  encircling  his  whole 
story,  from  Milan  in  Italy,  where  he  was  born,  to  Benton,  in 
Wisconsin,  where  he  died. 

A  portrait  of  him  survives — the  only  one.  It  is  that  of 
the  Dominican  novice  in  the  Convent  of  Santa  Sabina,  in 
Rome,  about  the  time  when  he  was  first  dreaming  of  becom- 
ing the  missionary  in  America.  The  high-born  refinement — 
the  "signorilita,"  as  his  own  Italy  would  say — shining  through 
it,  the  brightness  of  mind,  the  placid  resoluteness  of  will,  fore- 
tell the  later  Mazzuchelli,  as  seen  and  known,  while  hieing 
whither  duty  called,  from  wigwam  of  Indian  to  hut  of  early 
pioneer,  from  sacristy  and  altar  to  rostrum  of  lecture-room 
or  hall  of  legislature,  from  converse  with  the  lowly  and  the 
untaught  to  discourse  with  the  highest  and  the  most  scholarly 
— always  the  noble-featured,  the  noble-minded,  the  picturesque 
Mazzuchelli — picturesque  from  innate  grandeur  and  talent, 
picturesque  from  strangeness  and  variety  in  the  situations 
through  which  one  duty  after  another  happened  to  fling  his 
presence.     There  is  another  transcript  of  the  personality  and 


INTRODUCTION  v 

the  labors  of  Mazzuchelli — this  the  more  complete  and  the 
more  light-giving — his  "Memoirs,"  intended  to  be  a  simple 
narrative  of  work,  year  by  year,  during  the  early  half  of  his 
missionary  career.  None  will  read  the  book  without  seeing 
in  the  personality  and  in  the  labors,  themes,  such,  in  dramatic 
power  of  inspiration,  as  pen  of  poet  or  brush  of  painter  must 
love  to  have  discovered. 

Born  in  Milan,  Italy,  in  the  year  1806,  of  a  family  en- 
joying notable  social  distinction,  Samuel  Charles  Mazzuchelli 
was,  in  the  year  1822,  a  novice  of  the  Order  of  St.  Dominic, 
in  Rome.  There,  one  day,  in  the  year  1828,  while  yet  a  sub- 
deacon,  he  listened  to  the  first  bishop  of  Cincinnati,  Right 
Reverend  Edward  Fenwick,  himself  a  Dominican,  depicting 
the  work  to  be  done  for  God  and  for  souls  in  the  far-away 
regions  of  Western  America.  The  levite  was  prompt  in  re- 
sponse ;  and  soon  afterwards,  under  the  authorization  of  his 
religious  superiors,  he  was  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio  River. 
In  the  year  1830  he  was  ordained  to  the  priesthood;  and,  a 
few  weeks  later,  he  was  setting  foot  on  the  Island  of  Mackinac, 
the  most  remote  spot  of  the  Diocese  of  Cincinnati  from  which 
tidings  had  been  borne  to  the  ear  of  the  bishop. 

Mackinac  was  picturesque  in  scenery  and  in  story.  The 
poet  was  at  home  on  the  pine-clad  hills,  laved  by  the  waters 
of  two  great  seas,  Huron  and  Michigan.  The  lover  of  tales 
of  romance  found  much  to  charm  fancy.  There  the  hero, 
James  Marquette,  had  repeated  to  the  wild  Ottawa  the  mys- 
teries of  the  Redemption :  there  a  wonderful  register  of  bap- 
tisms and  of  marriages  told  of  the  long-intervaled  visits  of 
the  ordained  ministers  of  Christ,  and,  also,  of  the  pious  sacra- 
mental intervention  of  the  unordained,  when  none  of  the  for- 
mer were  passing  by :  there,  too,  were  the  memories  of  fierce 
war  between  savagery  and  civilization,  between  soldier  of 
France  and  soldier  of  England,  between  soldier  of  England 
and  soldier  of  America. 

To  the  youthful  priest,  however,  how  uninviting,  how  per- 
ilous the  field  entrusted  to  his  zeal !     Without  experience,  the 


vi  INTRODUCTION 

sacred  oils  yet  undried  on  his  hands,  he  stood  alone ;  the 
nearest  fellow-priest  two  hundred  miles  away;  around  him  a 
motley  crowd  of  Indians,  half-breeds,  hunters  and  traders, 
Catholics  by  tradition,  but,  as  a  consequence  of  long  privation 
Of  pastoral  care,  ignorant  of  the  teachings  of  their  faith,  de- 
spairingly lost  to  the  practices  of  its  precepts.  As  a  further 
obstacle  to  the  work  of  the  apostolate  there  was  on  the  island 
a  very  citadel  of  proselytism,  a  school  opulently  endowed  under 
the  guardianship  of  the  General  Missionary  Board  of  Ameri- 
can Presbyterianism. 

Unaffrighted,  trusting  firmly  in  the  Almighty  God,  Mazzu- 
chelli  was  quickly  at  work.  The  small  chapel  there  before  his 
coming — the  sole  home  of  worship  in  the  vast  parish  of 
Mackinac,  extending  from  Lake  Huron  to  the  Mississippi 
River — was  put  into  becoming  shape ;  and  a  presbytery  such  as 
scanty  gifts  from  the  faithful  allowed  was  constructed.  He 
preached  incessantly,  in  French  and  in  English :  he  addressed 
his  Indian  flock  through  interpreters :  he  warred  against  prose- 
lytizers  by  public  conferences  to  which  replies  were  chal- 
lenged. The  spiritual  and  moral  transformation  among  Cath- 
olics was  profound :  proselytism  was  silenced :  conversions 
from  paganism  and  heresy  were  not  infrequent.  Nor  was 
Mackinac  the  sole  scene  of  Mazzuchelli's  labors.  He  sought 
for  souls,  northwards  at  Pointe  St.  Ignace,  where  Marquette 
was  slumbering  in  an  unknown  grave,  and  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie ; 
westward  at  Green  Bay,  in  the  scattered  camps  of  Menomi- 
nees  and  of  Winnebagoes,  and  at  Prairie  du  Chien  on  the 
Mississippi  River.  The  journeyings  usually  were  in  birch- 
bark  canoe  in  summer,  on  snowshoes  in  winter — always  amid 
severe  hardships  when  not  under  imminent  peril  of  life.  At 
Green  Bay  he  built  a  church  of  no  insignificant  proportions 
and  opened  the  door  of  a  Catholic  school — at  the  time  the 
only  Catholic  church,  the  only  Catholic  school,  in  the  whole 
Territory  of  Wisconsin.  During  one  of  his  visits  to  Green 
Bay  he  had  the  consolation  of  having  a  large  class  of  children 
and  adults  receive  the  Sacrament  of  Confirmation  from  the 


INTRODUCTION  vii 

hands  of  the  indefatigable  Bishop  Fenwick.  At  the  request 
of  the  bishop,  special  attention  was  given  to  the  Winnebagoes. 
A  catechism  in  their  language  was  prepared  through  the  aid 
of  interpreters,  and  printed,  at  the  end  of  a  long  and  weari- 
some journey,  in  Detroit. 

Meanwhile,  other  priests  were  coming  into  northern  Michi- 
gan. Father  Baraga  was  with  the  Ottawas  at  Arbre  Croche 
in  1 83 1,  and  in  1833  another  pastor  was  appointed  to  Mack- 
inac. The  field  of  Father  Mazzuchelli  now  was  restricted  to 
the  Territory  of  Wisconsin,  through  the  whole  of  which  there 
was  no  other  to  share  in  his  ministry. 

During  the  year  1834  and  a  part  of  1835  Mazzuchelli  was 
in  Green  Bay,  from  there  visiting  Menominees  and  Winne- 
bagoes, once  going  to  Prairie  du  Chien.  In  1835  he  was 
among  the  workers  in  the  lead  mines  in  southwestern  Wis- 
consin and  northwestern  Illinois.  Galena  now  became  his 
chief  place  of  residence.  He  was  serving  under  three  ecclesi- 
astical jurisdictions,  that  of  Vincennes  for  Illinois,  that  of 
Detroit  for  Wisconsin,  that  of  St.  Louis  for  Iowa.  Indians, 
half-breeds  and  traders  around  Prairie  du  Chien,  elsewhere 
miners  and  pioneer  land-seekers,  were  the  elements  consti- 
tuting the  widely-scattered  flock.  New  experiences,  new  con- 
ditions confronted  him:  he  was  equal  to  all  requirements. 

It  was  an  era  of  notable  significance  to  the  welfare  of  the 
Church.  Vast  tracts  of  lands  were  purchased  by  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  from  different  Indian  tribes,  and 
declared  open  to  settlement.  Immigrants  were  rushing  west- 
ward by  the  tens  of  thousands :  the  wilderness,  as  by  magic, 
was  transforming  itself  into  farms,  villages  and  cities.  Cath- 
olics were  numerous :  their  spiritual  interests  were  to  be  cared 
for:  the  foundations  of  the  future  of  religion  were  to  be  laid 
deep  and  solid.  To  this  huge  task  one  priest,  sole  and  soli- 
tary, was  giving  contribution — Father  Mazzuchelli.  From  the 
year  1835  to  the  year  1839  none  other  was  near  to  lend 
countenance  or  help. 

Up  and  down  the  Mississippi  went  his  tireless  peregrina- 


viii  INTRODUCTION 

tions,  and  far  back  from  the  river,  eastward  and  westward, 
wherever  cottages  of  settlers  arose  above  ground,  wherever 
the  chain  of  the  surveyor  lent  streets  and  squares  to  nascent 
town-sites.  Churches  were  built  in  Galena,  Dubuque,  Daven- 
port, Potosi ;  preparations  were  made  for  churches  in  Prairie 
du  Chien  and  various  smaller  places  where  settlers  were  likely 
to  congregate.  Meanwhile,  it  was  an  uninterrupted  racing, 
summer  and  winter,  to  points  hundreds  of  miles  apart,  that 
sacraments  be  administered,  that  the  word  of  God  be  heard 
by  Catholics  and  non-Catholics.  It  was  the  mass  and  the 
sermon  in  the  shelter  of  the  grove,  beneath  humble  cabin  roof, 
in  schoolhouse  or  village  hall :  it  was  the  dogmatic  conference 
that  Catholics  be  strengthened  in  their  faith,  that  non-Cath- 
olics, if  not  brought  within  the  fold,  lose  their  prejudices  and 
learn  to  esteem  their  Catholic  fellow-citizens :  now  one  thing, 
now  another — always  incessant,  tireless  work.  The  only 
respite,  his  only  absence  from  the  field,  was  one  journey  over 
snow  and  ice  to  his  old-time  flock  of  Winnebagoes  and 
Menominees,  and  a  visit  each  year  to  St.  Louis  for  the  spiritual 
comforting  of  his  own  soul. 

At  last  his  priestly  loneliness  was  broken :  his  work  as 
precursor  and  pathfinder  was  closed.  On  the  twenty-first  day 
of  April,  1839,  the  newly-appointed  bishop,  Mathias  Loras, 
was  in  Dubuque,  taking  possession  of  his  see,  making  the 
Church  of  St.  Raphael,  built  by  Father  Mazzuchelli,  a  cathe- 
dral— Father  Mazzuchelli,  as  it  was  his  right,  preaching  the 
sermon  of  the  occasion.  Bishop  Loras  had  with  him  two 
priests,  Joseph  Cretin  and  Anthony  Pelamourgues ;  others  soon 
were  to  be  added  to  the  number.  It  was  a  new  era  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  Church  in  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  a  new 
era  in  the  career  of  Father  Mazzuchelli. 

Bishop  Loras  named  as  his  Vicars-General  Father  Mazzu- 
chelli and  Father  Cretin — the  former,  as  the  more  conversant 
with  the  language  and  the  circumstances  of  the  country,  tak- 
ing to  himself  the  task  of  immediate  cooperation  with  the 


INTRODUCTION  ix 

bishop  in  the  organization  of  parishes  and  the  erection  of 
churches. 

From  Galena,  where  he  continued  his  nominal  home, 
Father  Mazzuchelli's  peregrinations  were  many  and  far- 
reaching.  He  built  a  residence  for  the  bishop  in  Dubuque. 
In  Iowa  he  built  churches  in  Burlington,  Maquoketa,  Iowa 
City,  Bloomington  and  Bellevue;  in  Wisconsin,  churches  in 
Shullsburg  and  Sinsinawa.  In  Galena  he  built  a  second 
church  to  take  the  place  of  the  smaller,  constructed  some 
years  previously.  Vicar-general,  he  was  missionary-general, 
going  far  and  wide  in  search  of  the  scattered  pioneer  for 
whom  none  other  was  caring,  to  discover  hearers  to  whom, 
now  in  simple  exhortation,  now  in  stately  conference,  he  might 
break  the  bread  of  divine  truth. 

The  promotion  of  total  abstinence  from  intoxicating 
liquors  won  his  best  energy:  he  advocated  it  by  ready  word 
and  loyal  example.  To  every  good  work,  were  it  hundreds  of 
miles  away,  he  rushed  his  help.  Everywhere  he  was  the  wel- 
comed friend.  The  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  by  all 
classes,  the  influence  civil  and  social  which  he  was  permitted 
to  exercise,  marked  him  not  only  as  the  great  priest,  but  also 
as  the  great  citizen.  When  the  first  legislature  of  the  Ter- 
ritory of  Wisconsin  convened  in  Belmont,  he  was  the  chap- 
lain and  was  invited  at  the  opening  session  to  address  the 
members  on  the  duties  and  responsibilities  of  their  fiduciary 
mandate.  The  first  legislature  of  Iowa  met  in  Burlington : 
he  persuaded  the  Senate  to  hold  its  sessions  in  his  yet  un- 
dedicated  church,  to  the  enhanced  prestige  of  the  Catholic 
faith,  and,  no  less,  to  the  richer  repletion  of  the  parish  treasury. 
Singular,  romantic,  we  well  may  say,  was  the  missionary 
career  of  Father  Mazzuchelli,  in  the  variety  and  the  intensity 
of  its  activities,  in  the  achievements  marking  its  successive 
stages. 

Another  era,  this  the  closing,  in  the  career  of  Father  Maz- 
zuchelli, began  in  the  year  1845.  He  was  back  from  his  visit 
to  Milan  and  to  Rome.     Not  a  long  time,  as  we  count  time 


x  INTRODUCTION 

by  years,  had  gone  by  since,  in  1830,  he  first  had  seen  Macki- 
nac, since  in  1835  ne  ^rst  na<^  seen  Galena  and  Dubuque. 
Meanwhile  how  wondrous  the  changes !  Now  it  was  the 
well-ordered  civilization  of  the  New  World,  prosperous  today, 
ambitious  of  yet  higher  and  better  things  in  the  near  morrow : 
it  was  the  Church,  with  its  tens  of  thousands  of  disciples, 
soon  to  be  the  hundreds  of  thousands,  organized  into  dioceses 
and  parishes,  under  the  guidance  of  a  proportionately  nu- 
merous priesthood.  But  with  the  changes  were  the  new  needs 
begotten  of  the  new  conditions.  Those  Father  Mazzuchelli 
could  not  fail  to  perceive :  resolutely  he  set  himself  to  provide 
the  remedies. 

His  plans  were  three-fold — the  organization  of  a  society 
of  specially  trained  priests,  to  serve  as  auxiliaries  in  the  ordi- 
nary parochial  work  and  to  reach  out  among  Indian  and  white 
populations  more  extensively  and  more  perseveringly  than  the 
single-handed  diocesan  priest  could  afford  to  do :  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  college  for  higher  learning  for  young  men :  the 
foundation  of  a  religious  order  of  women  pledged  to  Christian 
education  in  whatever  form  circumstances  might  counsel.  It 
was  a  wide  and  far-reaching  programme — perhaps,  a  too  heavy 
draft  on  the  immediate  surroundings — the  out-gaze  of  the 
great  mind,  to  which  the  future  was  visible  almost  as  the 
present. 

A  western  province  of  the  Order  of  St.  Dominic  was 
thought  of,  with  certain  modifications  in  the  existing  rule, 
such  as  conditions  in  a  newly-settled  country  seemed  to  advise. 
The  project  went  so  far  as  to  receive  full  approval  from  the 
Superior-General  of  the  Order  and  from  the  Sovereign  Pon- 
tiff himself.  There,  however,  it  stopped.  It  was  too  prema- 
ture, owing  to  the  rarity  in  those  days  of  vocations  to  the 
priesthood. 

The  college  for  young  men  was  begun  under  more  encour- 
aging auspices.  Buildings  were  erected  at  Sinsinawa:  Father 
Mazzuchelli  was  president  and  chief  teacher:  priests  and  lay- 
men  lent   him   assistance:   pupils   were    in    goodly    number. 


INTRODUCTION  xi 

Later,  in  1849,  w^tn  a  view  to  its  more  assured  permanency, 
he  confided  the  college  to  the  Dominican  Fathers  of  the 
Province  of  St.  Joseph,  of  Somerset,  Ohio.  Under  their 
directorship  it  grew  in  efficiency  and  importance,  and  was 
giving  fairest  promise  of  becoming  a  great  centre  of  Catholic 
education,  when,  in  1866,  its  doors  were  closed,  the  Superior 
of  the  Province  being  no  longer  able  to  supply  the  teachers 
required  by  the  constantly-increasing  needs. 

The  third  project  was  the  foundation  of  a  Congregation 
of  Sisters  to  serve  in  the  work  of  Catholic  education.  To 
this  there  came  success,  ample  and  enduring.  Today  it  is  the 
Congregation  of  the  Most  Holy  Rosary  of  Sinsinawa,  Wiscon- 
sin. Humble  and  soul-trying  were  the  beginnings,  first  at 
Sinsinawa,  later  at  Benton.  Meanwhile,  however,  a  master 
mind  was  tracing  the  outlines  of  its  growth ;  a  master  hand 
was  laying  deep  and  solid  its  foundation  walls ;  courageous 
women  were  pouring  into  it  heroic  virtues,  indomitable  patience 
and  self-denial.  In  this  year  of  grace,  191 5,  the  Congregation 
instituted  by  Father  Mazzuchelli  counts  as  its  membership 
nearly  eight  hundred  sisters,  and  amid  its  works  fifty  schools, 
in  fifteen  different  dioceses  of  the  United  States,  with  pupils 
rising  in  number  beyond  the  sixteen  thousand — chief  of  those 
schools,  the  famed  Academy  and  College  of  St.  Clara. 

On  his  retirement  from  the  direction  of  his  college,  in 
1849,  Father  Mazzuchelli  took  to  himself  the  care  of  the 
parish  of  Benton  and  adjacent  mission  stations.  The  Sisters 
of  the  Congregation  of  the  Holy  Rosary  opened  at  Benton 
a  novitiate  and  a  school.  What  time  was  spared  from 
pastoral  duties  was  devoted  to  the  Congregation  and  to  its 
school.  Father  Mazzuchelli  was  the  adviser  and  the  director : 
and,  when  need  arose,  the  learned  teacher  in  the  classroom. 

Father  Mazzuchelli  passed  to  Heaven  in  1864 — dying  as 
befitted  his  career — a  martyr  in  the  service  of  souls.  Suddenly 
called  to  the  home  of  a  dying  parishioner,  on  a  cold  wintry 
day,  he  had  not  the  time  to  provide  himself  with  cloak  or 
overcoat.    A  severe  chill  followed,  and  then  a  fatal  pneumonia. 


xii  INTRODUCTION 

As  his  lips  closed  in  death,  the  words  in  Latin  were  upon 
them:  "How  lovely  are  thy  tabernacles,  O  Lord  of  Hosts! 
My  soul  longeth  and  fainteth  for  the  courts  of  the  Lord." 

Mazzuchelli  was  the  saint.  He  was  the  saint,  immaculate 
of  life,  scrupulous  of  duty,  exquisite  in  tenderness  of  piety— 
in  every  attitude  the  man  of  God,  his  every  relation  with  fellow- 
men  revealing  the  spiritual  lucidity  of  his  inner  soul,  his  every 
act  sending  forth  the  fire  of  love  that  burnt  so  brightly  within 
him.  This,  the  testimony  of  all  who  had  known  him,  or  had 
known  of  him ;  this  the  uninterrupted  rippling  of  the  stream  of 
tradition  wherever  the  remembrance  of  him  survives — the  re- 
membrance surviving  wherever,  even  for  once,  his  apostolic 
footsteps  had  wended  their  wearied  way. 

And  what  obstacles  there  were  to  his  saintliness !  We 
recall  the  unparalleled  solitariness  of  his  priesthood,  the  ardu- 
ousness  of  his  labors,  the  uncouthness  and  the  peril  incident  to 
his  evangelization.  He  was  the  youth  of  twenty-four  when 
bidden  into  the  wilderness.  The  nearest  fellow-priest  was 
hundreds  of  miles  away — savages  and  savage-like  roamers  his 
associates,  God  his  sole  prop,  his  sole  helper  to  sacrifice  and 
courage.  Yet  he  never  quivered ;  he  never  failed.  It  is  not 
that  he  was  insensible  to  the  torture  of  his  loneliness.  It  is 
pathetic  to  read,  that  when  saying  mass  in  Indian  hut,  or  under 
oak-tree  branches,  he  would  strive  to  buoy  himself  into  rever- 
ence and  exaltation  of  heart  through  the  memories  of  the 
stately  temples  of  Milan  and  of  Rome,  and  of  the  splendors 
of  the  ceremonies  there  symbolical  of  the  sublime  grandeur 
of  the  Christian  faith.  After  Mackinac  and  Green  Bay,  it  was 
the  rude  camp  of  miners  around  Galena  and  Dubuque,  or  the 
tent  of  the  wandering  immigrant — there  again  hundreds  of 
miles  from  a  fellow-priest.  Yet  always  he  was  the  saint. 
In  later  years,  genial  companionship  was  nigher;  situations 
were  more  generous.  But  there  the  piety,  the  religious  fervor  of 
Father  Mazzuchelli  did  not  grow  in  vigor  of  life;  it  needed 
not  so  to  grow:  it  was  what  it  always  had  been.     If  aught 


INTRODUCTION  xiii 

else  it  seemed,  it  was  only  the  softer  mellowness  of  the  autumn 
enriching  the  radiance  of  the  preceding  spring  and  summer. 

Mazzuchelli  was  the  missionary.  With  him  zeal  for  the 
welfare  of  the  Church,  for  the  salvation  of  souls,  was  a  burn- 
ing passion.  It  had  sent  him  in  his  youth  to  the  wilderness, 
away  from  so  much  that  naturally  was  dear,  so  much  that 
legitimately  was  alluring.  It  remained  forceful  into  the  days 
of  old  age.  Its  pathway  always  was  amid  hardships  and  sac- 
rifices. He  never  sought  surcease.  Vacation  he  did  not 
know.  Once  he  went  back  to  Italy ;  twice  he  visited  his  Do- 
minican brethren  in  Ohio  and  Kentucky;  but  important  mat- 
ters connected  with  his  missionary  projects,  not  repose  or 
pleasure,  had  prompted  those  journeyings.  One  business  was 
his — work  for  souls ;  to  that  was  given  his  whole  time, 
his  whole  energy.  His  was  the  device  of  the  Master:  "I  am 
come  to  cast  fire  on  the  earth ;  and  what  will  I,  but  that  it  be 
kindled." 

The  zeal  of  Mazzuchelli  was  of  purest  alloy,  luminous  of 
unlimited  disinterestedness.  It  was — nothing  for  himself, 
everything  for  God  and  for  souls.  Nothing  else,  he  wrote, 
will  commend  to  Catholics  or  to  non-Catholics,  the  preaching 
of  the  Word  so  much  as  real,  manifest  renunciation  of  self 
on  the  part  of  the  preacher.  Telling  of  his  labors  in  building 
churches,  he  makes,  as  a  simple  matter  of  course,  the  statement 
that  every  penny  received  for  his  own  support,  beyond  the 
satisfaction  of  the  most  pressing  needs,  went  into  his  under- 
takings. He  always  was  the  poor  man.  His  human  pride,  he 
confesses,  did,  now  and  then,  rebel  against  daily  dependency 
on  the  charity  of  others;  but  his  spirit  of  evangelical  poverty 
always  won  the  victor)'.  He  lived  the  poor  man,  he  died  the 
poor  man. 

Mazzuchelli  brought  to  the  service  of  religion  gifts  of  a 
high-born  and  high-nurtured  mind.  His  talents  were  most 
varied.  As  we  follow  him  in  the  wilderness,  we  easily  imagine 
what  he  could  have  been  in  the  centres  of  learning  and  culture 
of   his   native   land.      His   "Memoirs"   gives   sketches   of  his 


xiv  INTRODUCTION 

sermons  and  conferences.  The  breadth  of  thought  astonishes, 
as  also  the  correctness  of  expression,  the  poetry  of  style,  the 
tactful  adaptation  of  exposition  to  the  mentality  of  his  lis- 
teners. Nor  was  scholarship  in  him  limited  to  matters  the 
more  directly  connected  with  religion ;  it  ranged  far  beyond. 
No  occasion  met  him  of  which  he  was  not  the  master;  no  re- 
quirement made  appeal  to  which  he  was  not  adequate — in  pri- 
vate conversation,  on  the  public  rostrum,  in  the  legislative 
hall,  in  the  class-room  of  academy  or  college.  He  excelled 
in  appreciation  and  knowledge  of  music,  painting,  and  archi- 
tecture. Of  the  churches  and  other  religious  edifices  which 
he  built  he  himself  was  the  architect;  and,  so  far  as  his  slender 
treasuries  opened  the  way,  the  tracings  of  his  pencil  did  him  no 
small  honor.  A  beautiful  altar  carved  by  his  hands  survives  in 
a  chapel  in  Dubuque.  Plans  were  not  seldom  drawn  by  him 
for  civic  structures.  He  was  the  architect  of  the  first  court- 
house built  in  Galena,  and  of  the  first  state-house  built  in  the 
capital  city  of  Iowa,  Iowa  City. 

Not  for  the  day  only  did  Mazzuchelli  think  and  do.  His 
mind  reached  much  farther  into  the  future.  Reading  his 
"Memoirs,"'  one  is  astonished  at  his  vision  of  things  to  come. 
The  Republic  of  the  United  States  was  to  be  great  among 
the  nations;  its  western  fields  were  to  be  the  homes  of  mil- 
lions ;  villages  were  to  grow  into  populous  cities.  His  ambi- 
tion was  to  see  the  Church  plant  its  saplings  in  a  manner  that 
they  be  the  deeply-rooted  and  wide-spreading  trees  of  future 
times.  His  counsel  was  to  secure  sites,  often  quite  extensive, 
for  churches  and  institutions,  where  as  yet  the  faithful  were 
few,  but  where  growth  seemed  imminent.  Plans  he  would 
lay,  or  bid  be  laid,  for  the  increase  of  the  priesthood,  for  the 
formation  of  new  parishes  and  of  new  dioceses.  One  of  the 
most  suggestive  chapters  in  the  "Memoirs"  is  that  in  which 
he  pleads  for  the  multiplication  of  dioceses,  most  aptly  noting 
that  present  limited  resources  should  not  be  taken  into  account, 
since,  he  adds,  where  a  self-sacrificing  priest  finds  means  to 
live    by,    a    self-sacrificing    bishop    would    not    suffer    from 


INTRODUCTION  xv 

penury.  No  better  proof  is  needed  of  his  foresight  than  his 
foundation  of  a  college  at  Sinsinawa  and  of  a  Sisterhood 
at  Benton.  At  times  it  was  said  that  he  counted  too  much 
on  the  distant  future.  Be  it  so;  better  far  the  mind  that 
widens  too  much  the  perspective  than  that  which  unduly  nar- 
rows it  or  fain  would  hold  it  to  present  limitations.  Perhaps, 
too,  he  was  over-trustful  in  believing  that  men  equal  to  him- 
self in  vision,  talent  and  self-denial,  were  the  many,  while  in 
fact  they  were  the  very  few.  One  thing  in  his  justification — 
when  the  future  did  become  the  present,  it  was  plainly  seen  to 
be  what  he  once  had  hoped  it  should  be. 

Mazzuchelli  understood  with  singular  clearness  the  prin- 
ciples of  American  law  and  life,  and  conformed  himself  to 
them  in  heart-felt  loyalty.  There  lay  one  of  the  chief  causes 
of  the  influence  allowed  him  by  his  fellow-citizens  of  all 
classes,  and  of  the  remarkable  success  with  which  his  ministry 
was  rewarded.  He  was  a  foreigner  by  birth  and  education ; 
situations  in  his  native  Italy  were  much  the  antipodes  of  those 
in  the  country  of  his  adoption.  Yet  he  was  the  American  to  the 
core  of  his  heart,  to  the  tip  of  his  finger.  He  understood 
America ;  he  loved  America.  A  chapter  in  his  "Memoirs," 
notable  for  its  correctness  of  thought  and  its  lucidity  of  exposi- 
tion, is  that  which  bears  on  the  mutual  relations  of  Church  and 
State  in  the  American  Republic.  As  he  wrote  of  those  relations 
so  he  interpreted  them  in  practical  life — seeking  under  the 
laws  of  the  land  no  privileges,  sternly,  however,  demanding 
the  rights  they  guaranteed. 

With  all  else  there  went  in  Mazzuchelli  under  all  cir- 
cumstances the  refinement  of  social  urbanity,  the  winsomeness 
of  courtly  manner,  indicative  of  the  thorough  gentleman.  His 
presence  was  a  charm;  his  every  attitude  was  magnetic  of 
attractiveness. 

Mazzuchelli  was  to  the  end  the  priest  and  missionary. 
Once,  certainly,  if  not  oftener,  the  higher  office  of  the  epis- 
copate was  within  his  reach :  his  humility  and  fear  of 
responsibility  led  him  to  repel  it.     A  letter  he  addressed  in 


xvi  INTRODUCTION 

1850  to  Bishop  Loras  is  preserved  in  the  archives  of  the 
College  of  Dubuque.  In  this  letter  he  writes:  "My  present 
situation  (in  Benton)  is  more  pleasing  to  me  than  any  I  have 
had  before  in  America,  and  it  would  be  a  great  sacrifice  to 
leave  it  even  for  a  bishopric.  ...  To  live  retired  and 
unknown  to  the  world  is  a  great  happiness.  .  .  .  If  the 
Lord  is  not  very  much  displeased  with  me,  he  will  permit  me 
to  work  in  oblivion  before  the  world  and  enable  me  to  know 
him  more  and  more.     Amen." 

A  great  man,  a  great  priest,  passed  across  our  land  in  the 
person  of  the  pioneer  missionary — Samuel  Charles  Mazzu- 
chelli.  His  name  will  always  be  cherished  in  fondness  and 
gratitude. 

Better  than  what  other  pen  may  write  of  him  is  the  tracing 
of  Samuel  Charles  Mazzuchelli's  own  pen. 

I  speak  of  the  book — "Memoirs,  Historical  and  Edifying, 
of  a  Missionary  Apostolic  of  the  Order  of  Preachers,  among 
Tribes  of  Savages,  and  among  Catholics  and  Protestants,  in 
the  United  States  of  America." 

The  book  was  originally  written  in  Italian,  and  printed  in 
Milan,  in  the  year  1844,  during  the  visit  of  Father  Mazzuchelli 
to  his  native  land.  It  was  his  duty  to  give  to  his  superiors 
in  Rome  a  faithful  account  of  his  journeyings  and  doings  in 
far-off  regions,  and  it  was  also  his  wish  to  awaken  an  interest 
in  his  field  of  labor  with  the  hope  of  obtaining  for  it  mission- 
aries and  financial  help.  Both  purposes  were  served  by  the 
story  of  his  work.  It  must  appear  strange  that  this  volume 
has  remained  until  now  hidden  from  the  American  public — so 
valuable  it  is  as  a  contribution  to  the  history  of  the  Church  in 
America,  so  alluring  otherwise  in  theme  and  in  form.  At  last 
it  has  found  a  translator — a  member  of  the  Dominican  Sister- 
hood of  the  Congregation  of  the  Holy  Rosary  of  Sinsinawa. 
To  this  talented  and  industrious  woman  Americans,  American 
Catholics  particularly,  owe  a  deep  debt  of  gratitude. 

The  sole  regret  the  volume  evokes  as  we  turn  over  its 


INTRODUCTION  xvii 

pages  is  that  it  did  not  have  a  successor  in  another  volume 
from  the  pen  of  its  author,  Mazzuchelli,  giving  the  narrative 
of  his  life  and  labors  subsequent  to  the  year  1844. 

The  "Memoirs"  comes  as  the  voice,  veracious  and  musical, 
of  the  long  ago,  telling  of  our  early  apostles,  how  they 
lived  and  wrought,  how  they  built  and  planted  in  order  to 
leave  to  us  the  heritage  that  today  is  our  joy  and  our  pride. 

It  is  a  picture,  in  absolute  faithfulness,  of  Father  Mazzu- 
chelli and  of  his  work;  consequently  a  picture  of  entrancing 
beauty.  No  other  pen  than  his  own  could  have  traced,  in  their 
every  lineament,  his  personality  and  his  work;  none  other 
could  have  known  him  so  well  as  he  was  known  to  himself. 
None  other  could  have  made  the  picture  so  beautiful;  an 
attempt  to  improve  upon  realities  were  to  lessen  their  splen- 
dor; none  other  could  have  been  so  careful  to  forbid  the  at- 
tempt. In  writing  he  was  utterly  unconscious  of  self.  No- 
where in  the  book  is  his  name  seen,  not  even  on  the  title-page. 
He  is  simply  the  "Priest,"  the  "Missionary."  The  book  is 
altogether  impersonal.  The  reader,  not  otherwise  informed  of 
its  authorship,  might  well  question  who  the  hero  is  of  whom 
discourse  is  held. 

As  a  historical  document  the  "Memoirs"  is  of  exceptional 
value.  It  tells  of  a  wide  region  of  territory — from  the  waters 
of  Huron  to  those  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  Des  Moines — 
exactly  as  it  was  in  the  days  of  its  wilderness  and  of  its  first 
entrance  into  civilization.  The  populations  that  tenanted  its 
forests  and  prairies — the  Ottawa,  the  Menominee  and  the 
Winnebago,  the  fur-gatherer  and  the  trader,  the  incoming 
land-seeker  and  the  town-buikler — rise  from  its  pages  in  full 
native  vividness.  The  reader  is  brought  into  immediate  touch 
with  them,  made  to  mingle  in  their  daily  doings  and  manner 
of  life.  It  is  precise  and  exact  in  dates  of  years  and  of 
months,  in  descriptions  of  men  and  of  events. 

As  we  should  have  expected,  the  chief  theme  is  the  work 
of  the  Catholic  missionary — the  hardships  it  imposed,  the 
hopes  it  begot,  the  virtues  of  soul  it  exacted  and  embellished. 


xviii  INTRODUCTION 

But  the  general  civic  and  social  life  is  not  overlooked.  The 
writer  was  a  keen  observer  of  incidents  of  every  nature,  and 
a  faithful  narrator  of  what  he  saw  and  heard.  Few,  indeed, 
were  the  incidents  in  which  he  himself  was  not  a  sharer,  as 
priest  or  as  citizen,  and  in  describing  himself  he  describes  the 
several  current  activities  of  his  time.  No  fervent  student  of 
American  history  will  be  without  a  copy  of  the  "Memoirs"  on 
the  shelves  of  his  library-room. 

The  translation  of  the  "Memoirs''  from  Italian  into 
English  merits  high  praise.  It  evidences  a  thorough  knowl- 
edge of  the  two  languages.  It  has  the  primary  quality  of 
every  valuable  translation — it  is  faithful  to  the  original,  in 
meaning  of  words,  in  poetic  flow  of  diction  and,  what  is  of 
no  lesser  importance,  it  presents  itself  to  the  English  reader 
in  a  literary  style  that  is  always  correct  and  graceful. 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE 

This  book,  familiarly  termed  the  "Memoirs  of  Father 
Mazzuchelli,"  as  the  readiest  adaptation  of  his  own  Italian 
term  "Memorie,"  is  not  an  American  book  in  the  usual  accep- 
tation of  the  term ;  yet,  though  written  in  the  Italian  language, 
every  line  concerns  itself  with  the  people,  the  customs  and  the 
institutions  of  these  United  States,  particularly  from  the 
standpoint  of  an  educated,  intelligent  foreigner  inspired  with 
the  highest  missionary  zeal  for  the  cause  of  God  and  souls, 
and  at  the  same  time  an  ardent  admirer  of  this  great  Republic 
and  with  a  prophetic  vision  of  the  place  it  was  to  occupy 
among  the  nations.  It  was  probably  written  in  Milan,  his 
birthplace,  on  the  occasion  of  his  only  visit  there,  in  1843,  and 
the  following  year  was  certainly  printed  and  published  there, 
with  elaborate  maps  of  America  drawn  by  his  own  skillful 
pen  (the  fac-similes  of  which  it  has  seemed  best  to  preserve) 
by  the  publishing  house  of  Boniardi-Pogliani. 

The  work  is  divided  into  three  sections  designated  as 
Books.  Book  I  treats  mainly  of  Father  Mazzuchelli's  Cana- 
dian, French  and  Indian  missions  and  conversions. 

Book  77  gives  a  history  of  his  mission  work  among  both 
Catholics  and  non-Catholics  in  Iowa,  Michigan,  Illinois  and 
Wisconsin,  of  the  building  of  many  churches  in  these  terri- 
tories necessitated  by  the  increase  of  immigrants,  and  of  the 
creation  of  the  Diocese  of  Dubuque.  This  book  gives  some 
valuable  data  in  the  civic  history  of  1865. 

Book  7/7  is  a  thoughtful  account  of  religious  conditions  in 
the  American  Republic. 

The  translation  of  this  work  from  its  original  Italian  into 
English  presented  a  peculiar  difficulty.  Aside  from  the  utility 
of  the  book,  it  is  so  full  of  incident,  with  such  careful  atten- 
tion to  time  and  place  and  sequence  of  events,  that,  in  the 

xix 


xx  TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE 

right  hands,  a  free  translation  might  result  in  a  pleasing  and 
valuable  acquisition  to  the  history  of  the  American  Church. 
But  in  this  case  no  departure  from  a  literal  rendering  is  per- 
missible. The  author  of  the  work  was  a  saintly  priest,  than 
which  dignity  there  is  no  higher:  a  missionary  of  the  Order 
of  Saint  Dominic,  whose  motto  is  "Veritas."  Therefore  even 
at  the  risk  of  grave  injustice  to  the  original,  and  to  avoid  the 
yet  greater  risk  of  falsely  coloring,  ever  so  faintly,  even  one 
word — representing  the  soul  of  this  true  type  of  the  modern 
apostle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  Father  Samuel  Charles 
Mazzuchelli,  O.  P.,  this  rendering  of  his  book  into  English 
has  been  left  with  all  its  peculiarities  of  construction,  as  closely 
parallel  to  the  original  as  a  translation  permits. 

Sister  Mary  Benedicta  Kennedy,  O.  S.  D. 
Saint  Clara  Convent,  Sinsinawa,  Wisconsin. 
Feast  of  the  Assumption  of  Our  Lady,  1914- 


Se/vag<fi  {risbatiL  cha  abiAzvamo  ilTerritorio  dl  Wisconsin/. 


MEMOIRS 

OF  THE 

VERY  REVEREND 
SAMUEL  CHARLES  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 


MEMOIRS 

OF  A 

MISSIONARY  APOSTOLIC 

OF  THE 

ORDER  OF  SAINT  DOMINIC 


TO  THE  READER 

Among  the  motives  that  persuaded  the  compiler  of  these 
memoirs  to  consent  to  their  publication,  there  are  two  leading 
ones :  First,  to  comply  with  the  earnest  solicitations  of  many 
pious  persons  in  Italy,  both  of  the  laity  and  religious  of  the 
illustrious  Order  of  Preachers  to  which  the  missionary  glories 
in  belonging,  who  have  expressed  the  most  eager  desire  to 
obtain  a  more  thorough  knowledge  of  his  labors  in  a  region 
little  known  in  Europe,  and  where,  thanks  to  Divine  As- 
sistance, he  was  able  to  establish  Catholic  worship ;  the  second 
motive  he  considers  as  of  grave  importance,  also,  as  it  is  with 
the  design  of  contributing  to  the  Ecclesiastical  history  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  those  documents  which  will  one 
day  assist  to  make  clear  the  beginning  of  the  dioceses  of  De- 
troit, of  Milwaukee  and  of  Dubuque,  recently  erected  by  the 
Sovereign  Pontiff,  happily  reigning,  and  make  known  the 
obstacles  which  the  servants  of  the  Lord  have  to  encounter  in 
the  propagating  of  the  truth  of  the  Gospel. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  this  little  work  which  may  tend  to 
the  edification  of  some,  and  may  powerfully  move  the  zeal 
of  others  for  the  propagation  of  the  Faith,  will  redound  also 
to  the  greater  glory  of  God,  which  is  the  only  aim  proposed 
by  him  who  writes. 

It  has  been  thought  useful  to  preface  the  book  with  a  few 
thoughts  concerning  the  vocation  to  the  holy  missions,  and  a 
simple  account  of  the  circumstances  which  attended  the  same 
vocation  of  the  person  in  question,  for  the  benefit  of  those 
who  feeling  called  thereto,  delay  in  responding  either  through 
misplaced  apprehension  or  for  any  other  reasons. 

For  the  better  understanding  of  the  subject,  and  in  order 
not  to  deviate  from  the  form  of  a  well-conducted  narration, 
although  facts  and  places  varied  in  many  respects  are  treated 

xxiii 


xxiv    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

of,  it  has  been  thought  best  to  describe  them  chronologically, 
and  thus  relieve  the  monotony  of  the  account. 

Honorable  mention  has  not  been  omitted  of  the  missions 
of  other  priests  which  were  near  those  of  the  missionary,  not 
only  to  render  them  their  just  meed  of  homage,  but  also  that 
there  might  be  no  break  in  the  history  of  those  countries. 
The  compiler  would  be  more  diffuse  in  his  description  of  the 
missions  which  in  some  places  preceded  those  of  the  mission- 
ary, if  the  accounts  given  by  the  old  inhabitants  of  certain 
places  had  shown  a  higher  degree  of  probability. 

Actuated  solely  by  the  thought  of  helping  others,  he  has 
intermingled  with  his  own  narrations  certain  moral  reflections 
that  sprang  from  a  heart  accustomed  to  derive  from  all  hap- 
penings that  which  makes  the  blessings  of  Divine  Providence 
and  the  sublimity  of  the  Christian  virtues  shine  forth  the 
more  resplendently. 

The  name  of  the  missionary  and  the  circumstances  of  his 
life  not  connected  with  the  history  of  his  labors,  are  withheld 
as  is  fitting,  since  they  are  considered  of  no  importance  to  the 
object  of  these  memoirs,  who  looks  upon  himself  as  but  a 
simple  instrument  of  the  Will  of  the  Lord. 

If  any  should  wonder  that  the  Annals  of  the  Propagation 
of  the  Faith  have  not  published  at  least  a  portion  of  these 
memoirs  he  must  bear  in  mind,  in  the  first  place  that  not 
everything  which  is  effected  by  the  missionaries  in  foreign 
countries  can  be  known  by  that  wonderful  Association  which 
is  beyond  praise ;  and  moreover,  that  there  are  priests  who 
by  reason  of  their  great  distance  from  Italy,  or  the  precarious 
conditions  surrounding  them,  or  lastly,  perhaps,  willing  to  put 
into  practice  the  Evangelical  Counsel,  to  let  not  the  left  hand 
know  what  the  right  hand  doeth,  fail  to  set  forth  their  deeds 
in  public.  We  are  to  consider,  however,  that  our  Lord  coun- 
seled us  to  make  known  our  good  works  and  glorify  our 
Father  Who  is  in  Heaven  (St.  Matthew,  V.  16)  ;  He  Who 
graciously  disposes  all  things,  has  appointed  in  His  inscrutable 
ways,  the  time,  when,  with  Christian  prudence,  not  through 
vainglory,   or   through   any   other   human   motive,   it   will   be 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    xxv 

fitting  to  reveal  His  works.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  sim- 
plicity of  these  narrations  will  atone  for  the  absence  of  an 
elaborate  or  pleasing  style  which  seems  hardly  suitable  to  one 
who  is  describing  a  religious  mission  for  the  purpose  of 
spreading  the  truth. 

Everything  that  is  found  in  this  little  work  has  been  con- 
scientiously written  down,  with  nothing  exaggerated,  and  if 
among  the  pictures  presented,  one  does  not  meet  with  the 
marvelous  and  the  supernatural  which  some  writers  imagine 
to  be  inseparable  from  the  history  of  the  missions  in  these 
remote  regions,  that  will  serve  to  correct  the  erroneous  idea 
given  by  those  writers,  who  in  order  to  give  a  more  vivid 
color  to  their  narrations  have  often  allowed  themselves  to  be 
carried  away  by  too  great  a  taste  for  the  romantic. 

May  God  grant  that  these  few  pages  may  arouse  in  the 
hearts  of  kind  readers  an  unceasing  desire  to  co-operate  in 
the  propagation  of  that  Faith  which  is  the  most  precious  gift 
of  Heaven  in  correspondence  to  which  it  would  be  a  little 
thing  to  sacrifice  all  the  goods  of  earth  and  even  life  itself. 


BOOK  I 

Memoirs  of  Missions  Among  Various  Indian 

Tribes  and  Among  the  Canadians  in  the 

Territories  of  Wisconsin  and  Michigan 


MEMOIRS 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  VOCATION  OF  THE  PRIEST  TO  THE  PROPA- 
GATION OF  THE  FAITH. 

If  in  the  world  each  one  is  called  by  Divine  Providence 
to  fulfill  those  duties  which  constitute  the  various  occupations 
of  life  necessary  to  the  formation  and  progress  of  human 
society,  it  is  no  less  true  that  among  the  Priests  of  the  Sanctu- 
ary of  the  Living  God, — He  Himself  has  distributed  the  ad- 
ministration, of  the  graces  of  Redemption  which  form  the 
Society  and  Communion  of  Saints.  In  the  very  creation  of 
the  heavens,  the  Omnipotent  has  ordained  that  the  individual 
marvelous  revolution  of  each  sphere  should  form  but  one  part 
of  the  beautiful  universal  unity,  worthy  of  the  Being,  One 
and  Infinite.  The  spiritual  work  of  Christ  is  no  less  grand, 
no  less  worthy  of  Him  Who  said  in  the  beginning  "Be  It 
Made"  and  all  was  made,  while  Saint  John  declares  that  all 
things  came  to  pass  through  the  Word,  and  without  Him  was 
made  nothing  that  was  made. 

It  belonged  to  Incarnate  Wisdom  to  so  order  His  mer- 
cies in  order  to  provide  for  the  wants  of  every  nation  and 
every  grade  of  human  conditions,  and  to  supply  the  impotence 
of  those  who  were  to  be  the  dispensers  of  these  mercies  even 
to  the  end  of  time.  Although  man  may  have  attained  the  sight 
of  only  a  very  few  of  those  secret,  divine  ways,  through  which 
the  blessing  of  Redemption  is  offered  to  all  mankind,  what 
Saint  Paul  wrote  to  Timothy  is  certain,  that  God  our  Savior 
"will  have  all  men  to  be  saved  and  to  come  to  the  knowledge 
of  the  Truth." 

[31 


4      MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

He  Who  came  to  save  sinners  and  to  provide  for  all,  the 
means  for  eternal  life,  has  so  ordered  the  sublime  duties  of  the 
ministry  of  His  House,  that  to  some  He  gave  Apostolic  zeal  that 
they  might  go  forth  and  bring  forth  fruit  and  that  their  fruit 
should  remain ;  others  He  enlightened  with  Heavenly  wis- 
dom against  which  the  enemies  of  Truth  cannot  prevail. 
Many  received  from  the  Giver  of  all  good,  the  power  to  seal 
with  their  blood  the  divinity  of  their  holy  ministry,  and  they 
proved  that  the  gates  of  hell  will  never  prevail  against  the 
Faith.  Yet  others  with  the  gift  of  miracles  have  called  the 
nations  from  the  darkness  of  idolatry  to  the  light  of  the  Gos- 
pel. He  who  has  glorified  the  Heavenly  Father  with  piety 
and  good  works,  who  has  burned  with  desire  for  the  salvation 
of  souls ;  and  they  that  instruct  many  to  justice  shall  shine 
as  stars  to  all  eternity.  Dan.  XII-3.  Many  zealous  for 
building  churches,  can  say  with  David,  "I  have  loved,  O  Lord, 
the  beauty  of  Thy  house  and  the  place  where  Thy  glory 
dwelleth."  Psalms  XXV-8.  Many  consecrated  to  the  Sanctu- 
ary were  called  by  Divine  Providence  to  the  care  of  the  poor, 
the  sick  and  the  ignorant,  that  they  might  be  the  benefactors 
of  suffering  humanity.  In  fine,  the  needs  of  individuals,  of 
society  and  of  the  entire  human  race  have  felt  the  saving  in- 
fluence of  Him  Who  came  for  all  mankind. 

The  ministry  of  Christ  our  Redeemer  is  so  ordered  that  the 
great  variety  of  duties  and  the  distance  of  time  and  place  instead 
of  keeping  souls  apart,  bind  them  together  yet  more  closely 
in  the  bonds  of  perfect  unity;  for  those  duties  are  like  the 
waters  springing  from  one  and  the  same  divine  source,  re- 
freshing by  their  branching  streams  the  aridity  of  humanity, 
and  leading  it  on  to  the  ocean  of  Divinity  itself, — its  only 
Good.  When  the  Word  Incarnate  said:  "One  is  your  Mas- 
ter" He  suggested  the  grand  Catholic  truth  that  however  the 
operations  of  the  sacerdotal  state  may  be  distributed  among 
the  many  who  are  called  upon  to  succor  this  or  that  par- 
ticular necessity,  yet  He  Who  teaches  is  One  alone,  God 
Himself,  from  whom  spiritual  power  proceeds.  In  the 
Catholic  Church  the  unitv  of  the  sacred  ministrv  shines  forth 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.      5 

like  the  light  of  the  sun,  for  there  the  manifold  operations  of 
the  Apostolate  are  stamped  with  the  same  visible  authority, 
without  which  everything  would  be  isolated  and  powerless. 
If  ignorance,  the  offspring  of  vain  human  learning,  did  not 
blind  the  intelligence,  even  men  of  the  world  at  the  sight 
of  that  apostolate  which  embraces  so  many  centuries,  all 
societies  and  all  conditions  of  life,  would  cry  out  at  least, 
with  the  false  prophet  Balaam:  "How  beautiful  are  thy 
tabernacles,  O  Jacob,  and  thy  tents,  O  Israel!"  (Numbers 
XXI V-5.) 

While  sure  of  being  with  Christ  in  the  holy  ministry,  it 
is  of  the  highest  importance  to  the  Priest  to  ascertain  to  what 
duties  he  is  specially  called.  The  daily  happenings  of  life  are 
the  ordinary  means  which  little  by  little  manifest  to  him  His 
own  special  mission  in  the  kingdom  of  Christ  on  earth.  To 
desire  to  select  absolutely  one  mode  of  entrance  into  the 
sacerdotal  state  notwithstanding  the  lack  of  those  gifts  which 
are  required  therein  would  be  to  call  one's  self,  while  our 
Redeemer  said :  "You  have  not  chosen  Me ;  but  I  have 
chosen  you  and  have  appointed  you."  (John  XV,  16.)  He 
who  takes  upon  himself  a  holy  duty  for  which  his  incapacity 
unfits  him,  bears  the  full  weight  of  a  divine,  eternal  respon- 
sibility and  ordinarily  brings  forth  no  fruit  which  remains. 
But  when  Christian  prudence  permits  us  to  believe  ourselves 
endowed  by  Almighty  God  with  certain  qualities,  exacted  for 
the  fulfillment  of  the  obligations  annexed  to  the  sacerdotal 
state,  then  one  may  reason  that  he  has  been  called  thereto. 
An  upright  intention,  purity  of  conduct,  docility  towards  him 
who  has  the  spiritual  direction  of  our  souls,  prepare  the  way 
for  the  manifestation  of  the  Will  of  God,  which  manifesta- 
tion if  it  does  not  become  absolute  certainty,  is  at  least  that 
moral  probability  which  can  never  be  accused  of  imprudence, 
and  which  ought  to  serve  as  a  guide  to  the  most  timorous 
conscience.  Absolute  certainty  of  our  vocation  has  never 
been  granted  through  ordinary  means,  although  we  may  be 
allowed  to  believe  its  existence,  when  time  and  results  have, 
so  to  speak,  proved  the  reality  of  one's  election. 


6      MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

Few  have  that  generous  disinterestedness  in  their  choice 
of  the  varied  duties  incumbent  on  the  priesthood,  which 
moved  Saint  Peter  and  the  Apostles  to  abandon  human  in- 
terests, which  often  seem  determined  to  oppose  the  call  of 
Heaven.  The  sublimity  of  this  career,  however,  is  so  great  a 
boon,  that  the  refusal  to  follow  it,  on  account  of  any  human  at- 
tachment whatsoever,  would  render  us  the  objects  of  those 
terrible  words  of  Christ:  "Every  one  of  you  that  doth  not 
renounce  all  that  he  possesseth,  cannot  be  my  disciple.  (Luke 
XIV,  33-) 

Of  all  the  duties  of  the  priesthood  that  of  the  Propaga- 
tion of  the  Faith  among  peoples  who  know  naught  of  it,  is  the 
most  excellent  and  meritorious.  He  who  fulfills  this  evangeli- 
cal mission,  together  with  the  example  of  a  pure  life  and 
good  works,  and  the  continual  preaching  of  the  mysteries  of 
salvation  was  expressly  commended  by  the  Apostle  when 
he  wrote  to  Timothy:  "Let  the  priests  that  rule  well,  be  es- 
teemed worthy  of  double  honor;  especially  they  who  labor  in 
the  word  and  doctrine."  But  when  a  priest  is  called,  as  was 
the  Prophet  Jeremias  by  the  voice  of  God  Himself,  and  as- 
sured that  he  has  been  sanctified  and  made  a  prophet  unto  the 
nations,  he  could  in  truth  make  answer :  "Ah,  ah,  ah,  Lord 
God :  Behold,  I  cannot  speak,  for  I  am  a  child."  In  fact,  who 
will  believe  himself,  I  do  not  say  worthy,  but  even  able  to  be 
made  "a  minister  according  to  the  dispensation  of  God,  that 
I  may  fulfill  the  word  of  God.  The  mystery  which  hath  been 
hidden  from  ages  and  generations."  Who  will  be  able  to 
have  made  "known  to  him  the  riches  of  the  glory  of  this 
mystery  among  the  Gentiles?"  (Col.  I.)  With  reason  then 
did  Jeremias  call  himself  a  child  at  the  sight  of  so  great  a 
mission.  But  the  Evangelical  word  is  the  work  of  Christ, — 
it  has  naught  in  common  with  human  ignorance  and  the  wis- 
dom of  this  world ;  as  the  Apostle  says :  "The  foolish  things 
of  the  world  hath  God  chosen  that  He  may  confound  the 
wise :  and  the  weak  things  of  the  world  hath  God  chosen  that 
he  may  confound  the  strong,"   (I  Cor.  I,  27),  and  he  also 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.      7 

gives  the  most  convincing  reason  for  this  truth  when  he  adds 
"that  no  flesh  should  glory  in  His  sight,  v.  29. 

One  who  is  called  to  the  ministry  of  the  word  should 
like  the  Prophet  often  humble  himself  in  the  contemplation  of 
his  own  incapacity  and  childish  ignorance,  for  even  the  most 
profound  studies  in  sacred  doctrine  become  unfruitful  in  the 
mouth  of  the  most  eloquent,  without  that  divine  inspiration  of 
Him  Who  is  the  way,  the  truth  and  the  life.  The  sublimity 
of  speech  and  of  human  wisdom  did  not  accompany  the  com- 
ing of  Saint  Paul  among  the  people  of  Corinth,  but,  as  he 
himself  says,  the  knowledge  only  of  Jesus  Christ  and  Him 
Crucified,  that  their  "faith  might  not  stand  on  the  wisdom  of 
men  but  on  the  power  of  God."  (I  Cor.  2,  5.)  By  virtue 
of  the  Cross  alone  ought  the  Priest  Apostle,  with  the  lively 
faith  of  Saint  Peter  let  down  his  net  into  the  troubled  sea  of 
this  life ;  sure  that  sooner  or  later  his  Divine  Master  will 
make  him  an  instrument  of  salvation  to  many.  Vainly  would 
one  enter  upon  an  apostolic  career,  even  in  regions  most  re- 
mote, buried  in  the  darkness  of  ignorance  of  Christian  truth. 
or  blinded  by  the  errors  and  extravagances  of  heresy,  unless 
with  an  entire  self-abandonment  to  Him  Who  has  said :  "Go- 
ing, therefore,  teach  ye  all  nations.  Behold  I  am  with  you." 
Matt.  XXVIII,  19.  The  foolish  fear  of  lacking  the  neces- 
saries of  life  would  be  a  want  of  faith  in  the  Son  of  God  Who 
gave  us  this  command :  "Be  not  solicitous,  therefore,  saying 
What  shall  we  eat  or  what  shall  we  drink,  or  wherewithal  shall 
we  be  clothed?"  (Matt.  VI,  31.)  Amid  doubts  such  as 
these  what  would  become  of  the  faith  of  the  ambassadors  of 
Christ?  The  holy  Gospel  assures  us  that  our  Heavenly 
Father  Who  feeds  the  birds  of  the  air  and  arrays  the  lilies  of 
the  field  with  a  splendor  more  dazzling  than  Solomon's  will 
have  a  care  to  give  His  laborers  their  hire.  Let  them  seek- 
first  the  Kingdom  of  God  and  His  justice  and  all  these  things 
shall  be  added  unto  them.  This  is  the  promise  of  our  Re- 
deemer to  missionaries  of  the  Gospel :  whoever  doubts  it  has 
little  faith  and  in  truth  is  unworthy  of  the  Apostolical  min- 
istry. 


8      MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

The  comforts  and  riches  of  this  present  life  should  be 
despised  by  one  who  has  left  all  things,  in  order  to  say  with 
Saint  Peter  to  the  Divine  Master:  "Behold  we  have  left  all 
things  and  have  followed  Thee."  (Matt.  XIX,  27.)  He 
Who  has  promised  to  give  for  one  such  renunciation  a  hun- 
dred-fold in  this  world  and  life  eternal  in  the  next,  will  pro- 
vide for  every  need.  The  preacher  of  the  Gospel  may  apply 
to   himself  what   Christ   declared    on    this    subject    to    His 

Apostles:  "The  laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hire and  into 

what  city  soever  you  enter,  and  they  receive  you,  eat  such 
things  as  are  set  before  you."  (Luke  X,  7-8.)  The  grace  of 
Providence  shall  go  before  him,  disposing  the  hearts  of  the 
people  in  various  ways  to  minister  to  his  needs,  that  one  may 
recall  these  words:  "When  I  sent  you  without  purse  and 
scrip  and  shoes,  did  you  want  any  thing?"     (Luke  XX,  35.) 

Such  should  be  the  mien  of  him  who  preaches  the  truth 
confirming  it  with  the  brightest  example:  charity,  zeal,  disin- 
terestedness, piety,  modesty  and  patience  should  make  of  him 
a  living  image  of  his  Divine  Master,  Who  set  example  before 
precept.  Then  will  be  verified  in  him  those  words  of  Holy 
Writ :  "How  beautiful  are  the  feet  of  them  that  preach  the 
Gospel  of  peace,  of  them  that  bring  glad  tidings  of  good 
things!"    (Rom.  X,  15.) 

Placing  obstacles  to  the  vocation  of  a  person  who  is  well 
qualified  and  desirous  of  dedicating  himself  to  foreign  mis- 
sions is  to  oppose  one's  self  to  the  Divine  Mercy  of  our 
Saviour,  who,  "seeing  the  multitude,  had  compassion  on  them : 
because  they  were  distressed  and  lying  like  sheep  that  have  no 
shepherd.  Then  he  said  to  his  disciples :  'The  harvest  indeed 
is  great,  but  the  laborers  are  few'  "  (Matt.  IX,  36,  37.)  The 
consequences  of  such  opposition  are  dangerous,  both  for  him 
who  hears  the  call  and  for  him  who  hinders :  for  the  desire  of 
a  close  yet  brief  companionship  and  the  fear  of  a  temporary 
separation  upon  this  earth  might  draw  down  tribulation  and 
chastisements  in  this  present  life  and  everlasting  separation  in 
the  next :  then  would  be  verified  that  word  of  Christ :  "A  man's 
enemies  shall  be  they  of  his  own  household."     (Matt.  X,  36.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.      9 

In  place  of  putting  stumbling-blocks  in  the  way,  parents 
and  friends  ought  to  glory  in  seeing  their  nearest  and 
dearest  dedicate  themselves  so  particularly  to  the  propagation 
of  that  same  Faith  which  they  themselves  have  received 
through  no  merit  of  their  own,  and  for  which  they  can  never 
sufficiently  thank  God.  It  might  here  be  remarked  that  one 
of  the  principal  reasons  why  so  few  consecrate  themselves  to 
the  Apostolate  is  the  lack  of  reflection  among  the  clergy  in 
Catholic  countries  upon  the  pitiable  condition  of  those  na- 
tions who  have  not  received  the  truth  of  holy  religion.  Many 
priests  born  and  educated  in  the  unity  of  the  Faith  have 
never  had  the  experience  of  feeling  to  the  quick  that  anguish 
of  heart  inflicted  by  the  sight  of  the  destruction  of  souls  mid 
the  darkness  of  ignorance  and  heresy.  Ah !  if  they  would 
but  know  the  gift  of  God,  the  blessing  of  being  born  in  the 
abundance  of  spiritual  riches,  of  sitting  at  the  Eucharistic 
Table  every  day,  of  frequenting  the  House  of  God  at  their 
pleasure,  of  having  ever  ready  to  hand  the  divine  remedies  for 
the  cure  of  every  spiritual  malady,  in  a  word,  of  enjoying 
in  their  degree  all  the  mysteries  of  the  goodness  and  greatness 
of  our  Redeemer,  the  while  many  nations  are  yet  deprived  of 
these  blessings,  then  would  they  feel  a  more  efficacious  zeal 
burning  within  their  hearts,  and  not  content  with  merely  com- 
passionating from  afar  the  miseries  of  others,  would  put  their 
hands  to  the  work,  mindful  of  that  command  of  Christ:  "Go, 
teach  all  nations."  God  grant  that  no  priest  imitate  that  rich 
man,  who,  surrounded  by  all  the  good  things  of  this  world,  con- 
tents himself  with  desiring  necessary  food  for  the  famished 
poor,  while  he  himself  is  too  tardy  and  too  avaricious  to  sup- 
ply their  needs.  It  should  be  the  glory  of  Christ's  servants 
not  only  to  hear  His  call,  but  to  be  in  reality  the  instruments 
for  the  propagation  of  the  Gospel,  the  light  of  the  world. 

It  is  almost  incredible  that  the  goods  of  this  life, — parents, 
friends,  love  of  country,  and  worse,  love  of  riches,  can  be  to 
any  a  hindrance  to  the  Apostolic  vocation.  Motives  of  such 
a  nature  would  shame  even  one  who  is  willing  to  sacrifice  the 
very  least  of  the  gifts  of  Heaven,  and  would  show  a  littleness 


10    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

of  soul,  of  which  it  is  better  not  to  speak,  that  we  may  dis- 
claim the  very  supposition  that  there  exist  any  individuals  in 
the  divine  career  of  the  Priesthood  who  are  willing  by  like 
weaknesses  to  belittle  such  career.  Preaching  the  Faith  is  a 
work  so  meritorious,  so  worthy  of  the  clergy,  so  like  that  of 
the  Messias,  that  it  should  revive  the  noblest  sentiments  of  the 
heart  and  produce  a  superabundance  of  Evangelical  laborers, 
yet  Christ  tells  us  the  contrary :  "The  harvest  indeed  is  great, 
but  the  laborers  are  few."  (Luke  X,  2.)  Let  us  rouse  our- 
selves then,  and  let  us  open  eyes  of  Evangelical  charity,  and 
if  we  are  called,  let  us  direct  our  steps  wherever  the  work  is 
great  and  difficult,  but  where  also  with  the  help  of  Him  Who 
sent  us,  we  shall  open  the  ways  for  the  Gospel  and  where 
through  Him  our  labors  and  fatigues  will  meet  with  success 
according  to  the  certain  word  of  Saint  Paul :  "I  have  planted, 
Apollo  watered:  but  God  gave  the  increase."     (I  Cor.  Ill,  6.) 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  DEPARTURE  AND  VOYAGE  OF  THE  MISSION- 
ARY OF  THE  ORDER  OF  PREACHERS  FROM 
ROME  TO  CINCINNATI  IN  THE  UNITED 
STATES  OF  AMERICA. 

Not  without  difficulty  is  it  for  an  ecclesiastic  departing  for 
the  country  of  his  missions,  to  bid  farewell  to  parents  and 
friends,  and  native  land,  and  set  out  towards  that  region  to 
which  the  Lord  has  destined  him,  for  the  salvation  of  others, 
and  for  his  own  sanctification.  This  material  separation  does 
not  hinder  his  bearing  with  him  that  sincere  filial  and  fraternal 
love  towards  those  who  have  done  so  much  for  his  education 
and  have  a  natural  claim  upon  his  heart.  Yet  under  such  cir- 
cumstances one  ought  not  to  reflect  upon  the  material  aspect 
of  the  separation  from  beloved  friends  and  native  land,  but 
he  ought  to  have  before  his  eyes  the  sublime,  divine  motive 
which  breaks  the  strongest  ties  of  nature  in  order  to  make  of 
them  a  sacrifice  to  the  will  of  Heaven.  To  the  flesh  such  a  fare- 
well seems  cruel  and  unjust,  but  to  the  spirit  of  the  Christian 
it  becomes  sweet  and  mild,  for  it  is  the  yoke  of  Christ.  Such 
was  the  case  of  a  son,  who  for  the  last  time  embraced  a  tender 
father  who  on  every  occasion  had  shown  his  predilection  for 
him,  and  who,  five  years  before  had  besought  his  son  to  stay 
and  one  day  close  his  eyes.  But  of  what  avail  could  this 
strong  tender  love  of  a  father  be  to  one  who  willed  to  re- 
nounce the  world  and  take  upon  himself  the  discipline  of  a 
cloister?  Could  it  silence  the  voice  of  Heaven  and  draw 
aside  from  his  vocation  one  who  felt  himself  interiorly  called 
to  separate  from  the  world,  and  who  believed  that  he  would 
openly  resist  the  Will  of  the  Lord,  if  he  listened  to  the 
allurements  of  flesh  and  blood?     Thanks  to  the  Giver  of  all 

["] 


12    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

good,  these  whisperings  excited  by  the  pleadings  of  a  father's 
heart  were  calmed  by  the  words  of  Christ :  "He  who  re- 
nounceth  not  father,  mother,  brothers  and  sisters  cannot  be 
my  disciple." 

In  1828  when  obedience  destined  our  missionary  for  the 
United  States  of  America,  he  left  Rome,  and  revisited  his 
native  city  of  Milan  after  five  years  absence.  Then  the  fare- 
well to  father,  beloved  sisters  and  dear  brothers  was  made 
with  all  that  tranquillity,  which  the  certainty  of  doing  the  will 
of  God  could  secure.  The  affection  and  the  duty  towards 
parents  are  not  at  all  diminished  by  such  occurrences  in  the  life 
of  a  Christian ;  a  son  fulfilling  his  mission  upon  earth,  ren- 
ders to  his  father  that  true  and  just  recompense  which  is  due 
for  all  the  cares  and  anxieties  spent  upon  his  education.  A 
father  should  consider  himself  happy  to  see  his  sons  follow  out 
the  career  assigned  them  by  divine  Providence ;  since  in  such 
case  only  do  they  correspond  to  the  purpose  of  their  birth  in 
the  world,  and  recompense  the  labor  spent  in  forming  them  to 
virtue  and  eternal  life. 

When  the  last  farewells  were  over,  he  left  his  native  land 
with  little  hope  then  of  ever  seeing  it  again,  and  yet  without 
overwhelming  grief  of  heart.  In  truth  we  have  no  lasting 
home  on  earth ;  a  Christian's  native  country  is  wherever  God 
calls  him ;  therefore  for  the  man  called  to  the  Apostolic  min- 
istry the  fact  of  leaving  the  place  of  his  birth  to  go  into  mis- 
sionary countries  was  rather  a  setting  out  in  search  of  his  own 
country.  On  the  other  hand  he  who  departs  for  an  object 
worthy  a  disciple  of  Christ,  accustoms  himself  to  consider 
the  whole  world  as  his  own  country  because  his  affections  are 
in  no  wise  circumscribed  by  the  limits  of  one  city  or  by  the 
boundaries  of  a  kingdom,  but  more  widely  do  they  extend 
over  the  vast  number  of  nations  and  the  boundless  seas ;  so 
that  in  this  sense  also  the  word  of  Christ  seems  to  be  verified 
wherein  He  promises  us  a  hundredfold  for  what  we  have 
given  up.  Behold,  a  hundred  cities,  a  hundred  nations  under 
different  skies  become  our  magnificent  fatherland.  Oh,  how 
generous  is  our  God !     The  friends,  then,  the  companions,  left 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    13 

behind  in  that  narrow  corner  of  the  world  which  has  seen  us 
born  into  the  world  and  grown  to  manhood !  O,  they  are  not 
lost,  while  a  sincere  affection  for  them  can  be  and  ought  to  be 
kept  alive;  and  meanwhile  the  missionary  as  he  passes  on  to 
new  lands,  goes  to  find  new  friends,  to  increase  the  num- 
ber of  them  and  to  multiply  the  consolations  of  Christian 
friendship,  and  because  the  chains  that  bind  them  together 
in  the  propagation  of  the  truth  of  the  Gospel  are  not  the 
work  of  chance  but  the  fruit  of  virtue,  it  follows  that  such 
friendships  are  nobler,  more  lasting  than  those  of  our  youth. 
So  does  God  reward  in  full,  that  transitory  anguish  inflicted 
by  the  separation  from  parents,  friends,  native  country ;  Al- 
mighty God  is  not  outdone  in  generosity ;  He  never  accepts 
the  smallest  sacrifice  from  a  human  heart  without  pouring 
upon  it  His  divine  munificence  in  abundance  even  in  this 
life. 

The  journey  of  a  missionary  to  the  country  that  Divine 
Providence  has  appointed  to  him  is  always  accompanied  by 
circumstances  from  which  he  may  derive  many  experiences 
useful  for  the  fulfilment  of  his  ministry, — more  especially  in 
acquiring  that  necessary  confidence  on  which  he  must  lean  in 
future  needs.  Such  were  the  lessons  that  he  learned  during  his 
passage  from  Rome  to  the  city  of  Cincinnati  in  the  United 
States  of  America.  The  visits  made  to  the  churches  and 
sanctuaries  of  Florence,  Bologna,  Milan,  Genoa,  Lyons,  Paris, 
and  to  the  Capital  of  the  Catholic  world,  monuments  which 
down  the  ages  have  been  the  glory  of  Religion  and  Art,  had  yet 
more  deeply  impressed  upon  him  that  veneration  and  spirit 
of  piety  which  should  accompany  every  act  of  the  Christian, 
yet  more  of  him  who  is  called  to  preach  the  truth  of  the 
Gospel. 

Experience  has  taught  us  that  when  God's  minister  finds 
himself  alone,  without  a  church  in  the  country  of  the  infidel, 
deprived  of  all  external  objects  that  promote  piety,  the  holy 
remembrance  of  things  that  he  has  seen  in  the  midst  of 
Catholic  surroundings  supplies  in  part  the  want  of  such  re- 
minders.    On  such  occasions,  memory  vivified  by  Faith,  bears 


14    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

the  lonely  spirit  into  the  temples  of  the  Living  God,  before  our 
tabernacles  where,  to  Jesus  in  the  Blessed  Sacrament,  are 
rendered  those  honors  by  which  man  manifests  the  secret  de- 
sires of  his  heart.  In  truth  when  he  was  in  the  forests  and 
vast  solitudes  of  the  heart  of  North  America  often  did  he 
imagine  himself  present  at  the  sacred  rites  of  the  European 
Churches,  joining  in  the  solemn  canticles  of  Divine  Worship. 
His  imagination  of  itself  turned  to  those  sacred  objects,  when 
he  was  obliged  to  celebrate  the  Holy  Sacrifice  in  a  log  hut, 
or  in  the  wigwam  of  a  savage,  upon  an  altar  not  deserving 
even  the  name  of  table, — sometimes  constructed  of  the  bark 
of  trees. 

Almighty  God  even  made  use  of  the  memory  of  His  tem- 
ples to  excite  in  one  an  ardent  desire  to  build  them  wherever 
the  Catholic  Faith  spread.  It  was  impossible  to  express  in 
words  the  holy  anxiety  which  wrung  his  heart  and  overcame 
the  great  difficulties  involved  in  the  building  of  a  Church,  an 
anxiety  in  great  part  caused  by  his  having  seen  in  Catholic 
countries  the  vast  number  of  churches  and  sacred  ornaments 
in  all  their  magnificence.  In  truth,  at  times  it  seemed  to  him 
that  things  belonging  to  the  service  of  the  Holy  Sacrifice  were 
not  impartially  distributed ;  he  used  to  say  to  himself,  that  in 
some  places,  Catholics  had  a  superabundance  of  everything 
to  be  desired  and  that  here  where  the  need  is  greatest  they  do 
not  possess  even  the  things  most  indispensable  for  Divine  wor- 
ship. Making  one's  self  familiar,  therefore,  with  everything 
great  and  sacred  in  Catholicity  will  ever  be  of  the  greatest 
advantage  to  one  setting  out  for  distant  missions,  for  it  will 
assist  his  piety  when,  lonely  and  deprived  of  the  sight  of 
God's  temples,  the  memory  of  them  will  fill  the  void  in  his 
heart,  in  a  measure ;  it  will  give  an  impulse  to  his  zeal  for 
the  building  of  churches,  notwithstanding  the  many  and  seri- 
ous difficulties  to  be  overcome  by  one  who  puts  his  hand  to  a 
work  so  necessary  for  extending  the  Faith  and  the  worship 
of  the  true  God. 

But  let  us  follow  our  traveler.  After  making  the  journey 
from  Rome  to  Lyons  with  the  Vicar-General  of  Cincinnati, 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    15 

he  was  left  there  alone  at  the  end  of  July,  to  make  his  way 
towards  the  new  world.  Somewhat  of  fear  and  doubt  made 
itself  felt  in  such  a  situation,  putting  to  the  proof  his  vocation 
and  his  confidence  in  Almighty  God's  disposal  of  him.  The 
idea  of  setting  out  alone  for  a  far-off  country,  on  the  other 
side  of  the  Atlantic,  without  a  knowledge  of  the  language  of 
its  inhabitants,  to  a  youth  of  twenty-two  without  experience, 
would  have  been  rather  imprudent  had  it  not  been  justified  by 
religious  obedience,  that  obedience  which  would  be  a  safe 
guide  in  traveling  to  the  end  of  the  world,  if  that  were  neces- 
sary. In  reality,  if  a  religious  man  takes  holy  Obedience  as 
his  guide  during  the  great,  mysterious  journey  from  this 
world  to  the  immense  eternal  regions  of  God's  Kingdom,  how 
can  he  doubt  that  Obedience  will  conduct  him  safe  back  and 
forth  to  any  quarter  of  this  little  globe  of  ours?  See  how  the 
vow,  folly  in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  by  its  power  overcomes 
worldly  wisdom  itself  and  inspires  that  courage  and  energy 
of  soul  that  will  be  sought  in  vain  elsewhere. 

The  Lord  so  disposed  events  that  our  Ecclesiastic  was 
obliged  to  prolong  his  stay  in  France  for  two  months,  in  the 
little  Seminary  of  Saint  Nicholas,  where  the  charity  of 
the  Superiors  had  offered  him  an  asylum.  Such  delay  was  of  the 
greatest  advantage,  since  during  that  time  practising  with 
the  good  seminarists  then  enjoying  a  vacation,  he  learned  the 
French  language,  an  acquisition  which  after  his  ordination  to 
the  priesthood  became  indispensable  in  the  exercise  of  his 
ministry.  While  he  was  anxious  concerning  the  great  loss  of 
time  in  regard  to  his  long  journey,  the  result  convinced  him 
that  he  could  not  have  spent  those  two  months  more  profitably. 
Thus  do  accidents  which  seem  adverse  often  co-operate  for 
good  and  serve  to  make  ready  God's  ways  hidden  from  us ! 
Moreover  this  proves  that  we  must  always  believe  there  is 
some  design  of  Providence  in  the  involuntary  delays  which  so 
often  happen  in  traveling. 

On  the  fifth  day  of  October,  1828,  were  unfurled  the  sails 
of  the  American  ship,  the  "Edward  Quesnel,"  in  which  our 
young  Ecclesiastic  had  secured  his  passage  to  New  York,  and 


16    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

he  left  the  shores  of  Europe  in  the  firm  hope  of  seeing,  when 
it  should  so  please  God,  the  lands  discovered  by  Columbus. 
For  some  days  the  winds  were  contrary,  and  as  if  jealous  of 
their  dominion,  refused  to  permit  the  ship  a  peaceful  passage 
across  the  immensity  of  the  sea.  But  the  fury  of  the  elements 
calmed  down  at  last,  and  a  favorable  breeze  from  the  east 
sped  the  barque  towards  the  longed-for  harbor.  It  was  a 
pleasant  sight  to  see  on  a  clear  day,  all  the  sails  full-spread, 
the  sea  peaceful,  the  sky  pure  and  serene,  companions  joyous 
and  full  of  hope,  making  their  calculations  on  the  day  in 
which  they  flattered  themselves  they  would  happily  reach  port. 
Like  to  this  is  the  living,  true  image  of  those  thoughtless  men, 
who,  founding  their  happiness  upon  the  uncertain  things  of 
this  world,  dream  of  future  pleasures  which  prove  in  the 
event  to  be  naught  but  shadows  and  illusions.  In  fact  fleeting 
was  the  joy  of  the  sailors;  the  winds  howled  both  from  north 
and  west ;  the  ocean's  billows  rose  threateningly,  and  the  ship 
was  forced  to  rise  and  plunge  with  the  troubled  foaming 
waters ;  the  rigging  could  barely  resist  the  fury  of  the  wind 
and  mitigate  the  motion  of  the  tempest-tossed  craft ;  then  all 
became  silent  in  the  saloon,  for  he  was  fortunate  who  could 
keep  himself  steady  in  his  couch.  The  missionary  in  spite 
of  the  tempest  enjoyed  the  sublime  sight  of  the  ocean,  when 
unchained  and  storm-driven,  it  seemed  to  have  sworn  the  de- 
struction of  the  man  who  defied  its  wrath.  Clinging  to  the 
main-mast  he  could  see  the  broken,  imperious  waves  venting 
their  wrath  upon  the  ship,  often  as  if  striving  to  engulf  it, 
flooding  the  deck  with  their  crest,  but  conquered  by  man's 
power,  breaking  and  passing  off,  the  wind  howling  unceasingly 
among  the  masts  and  cordage  seemed  to  predict  death  and 
ruin.  The  heavens  all  darkened,  crashing  with  thunder. 
denied  to  the  gaze  of  the  voyager  even  the  slightest  gleam  of 
hope  for  safety.  The  missionary's  imagination,  stirred  by 
this  spectacle  so  really  frightful,  involuntarily  was  borne  on 
to  meditate  on  that  last  catastrophe  described  by  the  eloquence 
of  the  Son  of  God : 

"  \nd  there  shall  be  signs  in  the  sun  and  in  the  moon  and 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    17 

in  the  stars,  and  upon  the  earth  distress  of  nations,  by  reason 
of  the  confusion  of  the  roaring  of  the  sea  and  of  the  waves : 

"Men  withering  away  for  fear  and  expectation  of  what 
shall  come  upon  the  whole  world."     (Luke  XXI,  25,  26.) 

A  favorable  wind  succeeded  the  storm  and  already  on  No- 
vember 7th  the  sight  of  land  gladdened  the  hearts  of  the 
voyagers,  but  vainly,  for  the  wind  suddenly  changed  and  blew 
from  the  west  with  such  fury  that  one  might  have  said  the 
ship  had  taken  flight  to  Europe ;  thus  for  five  days  she  was 
driven  backward  over  the  wide  sea,  until  the  Supreme  Ruler 
of  the  waves  set  her  again  upon  the  right  course,  and  on  the 
morning  of  the  fourteenth  she  calmly  neared  the  wished-for 
coast.  Ah !  when  men  are  agitated  by  stormy  passions  in  the 
dark  night  of  this  vale  of  tears,  if  they  but  knew  how  to 
use  that  tireless  industry,  perseverance  and  patience  taught  us 
by  the  mariner!  then  would  all  arrive  at  the  port  of  eternal 
salvation. 

Some  days  of  delay  in  the  great  city  of  New  York,  con- 
vinced our  traveler  that  the  grand  things  of  this  world  are 
ever  in  close  relationship  with  the  general  corruption  of 
morals;  thence  he  passed  on  to  the  beautiful,  beautifully 
planned  city  of  Philadelphia,  and  from  there  to  the  Archiepis- 
copal  city  of  Baltimore.  During  this  short  journey,  he  real- 
ized the  great  inconvenience  of  not  knowing  the  English 
language,  and  of  being  forced  like  the  Patriarch  Joseph  in 
Egypt  to  hear  a  language  that  he  understood  not.  There  yet 
remained  about  eight  hundred  miles  of  a  journey,  partly  by 
land,  partly  by  water,  before  reaching  Cincinnati,  the  place  of 
his  destination ;  he  was  without  a  companion  who  spoke  one 
language  known  to  him,  and  moreover  uncertain  whether  the 
money  at  his  disposal  was  sufficient  for  so  long  a  journey : 
yet  he  leaned  upon  Divine  Providence,  greater  than  all 
treasure.  On  the  first  day  that  he  spent  in  the  stage-coach 
an  American  gentleman  perceived  his  extreme  embarrassment 
in  the  offices  and  taverns  on  account  of  his  inability  to  make 
himself  understood  and  touched  with  compassion  towards  the 
stranger  gave  him  to  understand  by   signs  that  he  himself 


18    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

would  have  everything  paid  for  and  attended  to  both  by  land 
and  by  water  as  far  as  Cincinnati,  and  that  there  the  sum 
expended  would  be  shown  to  him.  In  short  from  that  morn- 
ing the  young  Ecclesiastic  had  nothing  to  do  but  take  his  place 
in  the  carriage,  to  go  to  the  steam-boat,  or  seat  himself  at  the 
table  whenever  he  was  called;  so  in  a  few  days  he  reached 
the  place  of  his  destination.  His  kind  protector  then  wrote 
upon  a  card  the  sum  paid  out  for  him  on  the  journey;  but 
perceiving  that  the  poor  European  had  not  sufficient  money, 
he  smiled  and  made  him  a  sign  just  to  go  to  the  Catholic 
Church,  which  building  was  seen  not  far  distant.  Who  would 
not  in  such  case  have  given  thanks  with  all  his  heart  to  Divine 
charity  for  the  particular  protection  under  which  that  charity 
had  so  happily  led  him  to  the  end  of  his  long  journey!  Had 
he  not  reason  to  say  with  the  holy  Tobias:  "He  conducted 
me  and  brought  me  safe  again;  we  are  rilled  with  all  good 
things  through  him"  ?    (Tob.  XII,  v.  3.) 


CHAPTER  III 

STUDY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  LANGUAGE.  VISIT  TO 
THE  CONVENT  OF  SAINT  ROSE,  PREPARA- 
TION FOR  THE  PRIESTHOOD  IN  THE  CON- 
VENT OF  SAINT  JOSEPH,  AND  ORDINATION 
TO  THE  DEACONSHIP  AND  PRIESTHOOD. 

Monsignore  Edward  Fenwick  of  the  Order  of  Preachers 
was  then  the  venerable  Bishop  of  Cincinnati;  it  would  not  be 
easy  to  describe  the  sweetness  with  which  he  welcomed  his 
young  brother  in  the  Religious  vocation  and  his  kind  con- 
cern to  have  him  instructed  in  the  language  of  the  country. 
Our  Ecclesiastic  devoted  the  time  up  to  the  Feast  of  Christ- 
mas to  mastering  the  principal  difficulties  of  the  language, 
when  the  Bishop  desired  him  to  make  a  visit  to  Saint  Rose's 
Convent  of  the  Order  of  Saint  Dominic,  in  the  state  of  Ken- 
tucky, distant  about  two  hundred  miles  from  Cincinnati.  Hav- 
ing reached  Louisville,  a  commercial  city  of  that  state,  he  was 
obliged  to  continue  his  journey  on  horseback,  and  to  travel 
thus  thirty-eight  miles  without  resting.  It  was  the  mission- 
ary's first  riding-lesson,  and  was  so  dear  a  one,  that  when  he 
finally  arrived  at  Bardstown,  then  the  residence  of  the  Bishop 
of  Kentucky,  he  was  obliged  from  extreme  fatigue  to  keep 
his  bed  for  two  days.  But  it  was  a  lesson  most  necessary 
for  one  who  was  afterwards  to  undertake  long  journeys  on 
horseback  to  places  where  for  many  years  there  was  no  other 
means  of  traversing  the  country.  His  strength  returning  after 
some  days,  the  Bishop,  Right  Reverend  Benedict  Joseph  Flaget 
honored  him  with  the  loan  of  his  own  horses  and  a  guide  to 
take  him  the  distance  of  fifteen  miles  where  the  convent  was 
situated.  This  is  one  of  the  oldest  religious  foundations  of 
Kentucky;  the  first  asylum  of  the  Dominicans  in  the  United 

[i9l 


20    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

States,  and  the  first  college  of  the  state;  there  were  trained 
many  priests,  among  them  the  present  Bishop  of  Tennessee, 
Monsignore  Miles  of  the  Order  of  Preachers.  The  Church  of 
Saint  Rose  is  large  and  much  frequented  by  the  surrounding 
people.  The  convent  is  quite  large  and  capable  of  containing  a 
goodly  number  of  religious.  The  community  derives  its  sub- 
sistence principally  from  the  land  which  was  purchased  for  that 
purpose  when  the  Order  was  first  established  here.  Not  far 
from  the  convent  is  found  a  convent  of  religious  women  of  the 
same  Order,  devoted  to  the  instruction  of  young  girls :  in  this 
way  the  religious  are  most  useful  for  the  propagation  of  the 
Faith  and  cultivation  of  the  mind.  When  the  young  ecclesiastic 
returned  as  far  as  Bardstown  about  the  first  of  February,  he 
was  obliged  to  remain  there,  for  the  Ohio  River,  on  account 
of  the  ice,  was  not  navigable  to  Cincinnati.  A  happy  circum- 
stance for  one  who  was  glad  to  profit  by  such  a  delay !  The 
gentle,  holy  companionship  of  the  holy  Bishop  Flaget  was 
enough  to  inspire  piety  and  apostolic  zeal ;  ever  active,  yet 
kindly  with  every  one,  while  he  won  hearts,  he  inflamed  them 
with  the  love  of  God  and  of  the  salvation  of  souls.  Lessons 
such  as  these  are  not  easily  forgotten. 

There  lived  at  that  time  at  Bardstown  the  very  reverend 
Patrick  Kenrick,  at  present  the  most  worthy  and  learned 
Bishop  of  Philadelphia:  he  was  then  professor  of  theology  in 
the  seminary  of  that  diocese.  His  guest  having  been  present 
at  several  of  these  lessons  was  not  a  little  surprised  at  the  ease 
and  clearness  with  which  he  imparted  the  truths  of  holy  doc- 
trine to  the  young:  under  the  priceless  mantle  of  humility,  he 
concealed  those  superior  qualities  with  which  the  Almighty  had 
endowed  him.  The  missionary  may  be  permitted  to  relate  this 
circumstance  to  the  honor  of  the  priesthood  and  the  .onfu- 
sion  of  modern  philanthropists ;  that  one  evening  on  entering 
the  Professor's  little  room,  he  had  the  consoling  surprise  of 
finding  a  suffering  beggar  occupying  the  Professor's  bed.  By 
what  accident  this  needy  one  had  obtained  such  a  privilege 
was  not  known ;  the  fact  only  remained  that  the  poor  creature 
was  occupying  the  bed  by  direction  of  the  Professor.     Such 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    21 

example  of  tender  charity  inspired  in  the  involuntary  witness 
an  ardent  desire  of  imitating  it. 

At  the  beginning  of  March  our  religious  returned  to  Cin- 
cinnati where  steadily  applying  himself  to  the  study  of  English, 
as  also  the  duties  of  sacristan,  he  continued  until  September 
of  that  year.  The  Reverend  J.  J.  Mullin,  an  Irishman  by 
birth  and  a  man  of  great  eloquence,  at  that  time  occupied  the 
pulpit  in  the  Cathedral.  His  sermons,  enhanced  by  his  zeal 
and  by  an  elegant  style,  together  with  the  piety,  courtesy  and 
mildness  of  Bishop  Edward  Fenwick,  O.  S.  D.,  were,  through 
the  designs  of  divine  mercy,  the  means  by  which  many  were 
called  away  from  the  errors  of  a  many-sided  Protestantism  to 
the  light  of  Catholic  unity.  During  this  year,  1829,  the  Sisters 
of  Charity  were  established  in  Cincinnati  in  spite  of  all  the 
prejudices  and  hostile  harangues  of  the  sects  who  could  not 
help  seeing  in  their  arrival,  a  precursor  of  that  popularity  and 
wide-spread  influence  enjoyed  at  the  present  time  by  Catholics. 
It  is  but  too  true  that  the  works  of  Christian  charity  even 
in  the  very  face  of  their  social  utility,  encounter  from  the  di- 
verse sects  opposition  and  hatred  which  Almighty  God  makes 
use  of,  however,  to  render  His  disciples  more  conformable  to 
His  Divine  Son. 

The  Convent  of  Saint  Joseph  of  the  Order  of  Saint  Domi- 
nic, situated  in  the  center  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  was  selected 
by  the  young  ecclesiastic  as  a  place  for  study  and  preparation 
for  the  priesthood.  Arriving  there,  he  was  delighted  with  the 
pleasant  and  retired  situation  of  that  house,  thoroughly  adapted 
to  the  object  of  his  retirement.  Three  and  sometimes  four 
religious  live  there,  who  are  however  often  absent  for  many 
days  on  the  various  stations  attended  from  the  Convent  church. 
Here,  as  at  Saint  Rose's,  the  missionary  found  that  their  means 
of  subsistence  were  derived  from  the  land  belonging  to  the  es- 
tablishment. The  congregations  of  the  Catholics  to  whom 
these  few  religious  had  to  administer  the  consolations  of  the 
Faith,  were  in  those  days  numerous  and  far  apart,  so  that 
rarely  did  it  happen  that  one  or  another  of  the  religious  was 
not  called  away.     Visits  to  the  sick  also  rendered  their  resi- 


22    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

dence  always  uncertain,  for  at  any  moment  of  the  day  or  night, 
they  might  be  called  upon  to  carry  the  Viaticum  to  the  dying, 
for  a  distance  often  of  thirty  or  forty  miles  or  more.  It  will 
not  be  out  of  place  to  relate  that  in  March,  1830,  at  nine  o'clock 
at  night,  while  the  rain  was  falling  in  torrents  and  the  night 
intensely  dark,  a  man  knocks  at  the  door  and  asks  for  the  priest 
to  carry  the  Viaticum  to  a  person  dangerously  ill,  who  was 
ninety  miles  distant  from  the  convent.  Father  O'Leary,  a  man 
simple  and  of  holy  life,  without  being  in  the  least  disconcerted 
by  the  heavy  storm  and  darkness,  made  ready  to  go,  mounted 
his  horse  and  as  if  under  a  clear  sky  and  bright  sunshine,  cheer- 
fully set  out  to  reach  the  dying  bed  next  morning.  Cases  such 
as  these  were  then  common  in  the  state  of  Ohio.  Would  one 
of  our  philanthropists  have  done  such  a  deed  for  pure  love  of 
suffering  humanity? 

But  let  us  return  to  our  subject.  While  living  in  this  house 
for  the  purpose  of  preparing  better  for  the  Priesthood  and  the 
Missions,  the  neophyte  made  every  effort  to  acquire  by  con- 
tinual study  sufficient  command  of  the  English  language. 
With  the  design  of  exercising  himself  in  the  language  and  in 
preaching,  in  the  beginning  of  1830,  he  commenced  a  course  of 
catechetical  instructions  in  the  Church  of  Saint  Joseph.  The 
experience  convinced  him  that  this  first  attempt  in  the  preach- 
ing of  the  Word  was  productive  of  the  happiest  results,  carry- 
ing with  it  the  study  of  subjects  suitable  for  sermons,  the 
knowledge  of  a  very  difficult  language,  and  familiarity  with  the 
pulpit. 

On  the  occasion  of  the  coming  of  the  good  Bishop  of  Cin- 
cinnati to  Saint  Joseph's,  to  visit  the  Catholics  of  that  part  of 
his  diocese,  in  July,  our  student  was  ordained  to  the  Diaconate. 
By  the  grace  of  this  degree  of  the  ecclesiastical  hierarchy,  he 
was  rendered  more  courageous  in  the  Lord,  and  by  virtue  of 
his  office,  he  began  to  occupy  the  pulpit  after  the  Gospel  at 
High  Mass,  to  explain  the  truths  therein  contained. 

By  order  of  the  Bishop  he  went  to  Cincinnati,  where  he  was 
directed  to  prepare  for  ordination  to  the  priesthood,  to  which 
he  was  raised  on   September  fifth.   1830.     Monsignore  Fen- 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    23 

wick  celebrated  pontifically,  assisted  by  the  clergy  then  in  the 
city.  The  Reverend  J.  J.  Mullen  availed  himself  of  that  sol- 
emn and  imposing  occasion,  with  his  brilliant  eloquence  to  show 
forth  in  its  grandeur  and  glory,  the  divinity  of  the  Apostolic 
ministry  in  the  Catholic  Church.  Oh  how  clear,  how  full  of 
power  those  words  of  the  Messias  in  St.  John's  Gospel :  "As 
the  Father  hath  sent  Me,  I  also  send  you."  St.  John  XX,  21. 
The  Protestants  of  the  United  States  are  generally  desirous  of 
assisting  at  the  ordination  of  a  Priest  by  a  Catholic  Bishop. 
So  on  such  occasions,  the  zealous  preacher  of  the  Truth  is  able 
always  and  with  much  benefit  to  make  known  the  grand,  sub- 
lime arguments  that  prove  the  necessity  of  a  Divine  mission 
upon  earth,  by  the  propagation  of  the  Faith  and  the  distribu- 
tion of  the  graces  which  are  the  fruit  of  Christ's  redemption, 
and  he  can  count  over,  as  it  were,  the  sacred  links  of  that 
golden  chain  which  closely  and  divinely  binds  the  living  Hier- 
archy of  the  Catholic  Church  with  that  of  all  the  ages  past, 
united  indivisibly,  to  that  same  Corner  Stone,  Christ  Jesus, 
who  before  ascending  into  heaven,  sealed  His  mission  by  say- 
ing: "Behold  I  am  with  you  all  days,  even  to  the  consumma- 
tion of  the  world." 


CHAPTER  IV 

DEPARTURE  FROM  CINCINNATI  FOR  MACKINAC. 
DESCRIPTION  OF  THIS  ISLAND.  FIRST  VISIT 
TO  GREEN  BAY  AND  TO  THE  SAVAGES. 

The  newly-ordained  priest  did  not  know  to  what  part  of 
that  vast  diocese  he  was  to  be  sent,  and  in  truth  he  neither  had 
nor  could  have  any  predilection.  The  Bishop  himself,  for 
several  weeks  after  the  ordination  was  undecided  upon  this 
point  until  the  end  of  the  month,  when  information  having  been 
received  of  the  pressing  necessity  for  a  priest  in  the  most 
northern  parts  of  his  diocese,  he  determined  to  send  one  where 
the  need  seemed  most  urgent.  All  the  faculties  usually  ac- 
corded to  a  missionary  having  been  granted,  the  few  matters 
relating  to  his  departure  having  been  arranged,  and  the  Bish- 
op's blessing  having  been  received,  the  novice  in  the  apostolic 
career  set  out  for  his  destination.  It  may  be  well  to  know 
that  in  1830,  the  Diocese  of  Cincinnati  comprised  not  only  the 
state  of  Ohio,  as  it  now  exists,  but  the  state  of  Michigan  and 
the  Territory  of  Wisconsin,  also,  which  at  present  form  two 
other  Dioceses.  The  State  of  Michigan  at  that  time,  counted 
five  priests  who  remained  in  the  southern  parts  of  that  region, 
because  the  northern  part  was  inhabited  only  by  savages.  The 
Territory,  then  counting  only  a  very  few  civilized  inhabitants 
lately  settled  there,  had  not  thus  far  had  a  missionary.  Now  the 
first  mission  of  which  we  are  speaking  was  upon  the  Island 
of  Mackinac  and  in  the  surrounding  country,  eight  hundred 
miles  from  Cinicinnati  by  the  common  route.  Going  from  this 
city  to  the  Island  of  Mackinac  one  crosses  the  entire  state  of 
Ohio  to  Lake  Erie,  thence  sailing  up  its  western  shore,  and 
passing  through  the  city  of  Detroit,  capital  of  Michigan,  one 

T24] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    25 

enters  the  great  Lake  Huron,  for  a  voyage  of  nearly  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  miles  before  landing  upon  the  island. 

Mackinac  is  situated  within  the  strait  which  separates 
Lake  Huron  and  Lake  Michigan  and  is  not  very  far  from 
Lake  Superior.  The  geographical  position  of  this  island 
which  commands  the  passage  of  the  lakes,  was  at  one  time  of 
extreme  importance  to  the  English  and  they  built  fortifica- 
tions upon  its  heights  during  the  American  War  of  Independ- 
ence. The  French  also,  when  they  were  masters  of  Canada, 
used  it  as  a  point  of  defence.  The  Republic  at  present  main- 
tains a  fort  there,  for  the  protection  of  its  citizens  against  the 
savage  tribes.  The  real  Indian  name  of  the  island  is  Michili- 
mackinac,  that  is,  Turtle  Back,  because  while  only  nine  miles 
in  circumference,  its  rises  majestically  above  the  water  to  the 
height  of  more  than  five  hundred  English  feet,  and  from  its 
summit  rules  the  broad  Lakes  and  vast  expanse  of  land.  The 
great  traffic  in  skins  of  wild  animals,  carried  on  many  years  in 
these  regions  by  various  companies  of  traders  made  this  island 
the  market  for  such  merchandise. 

In  the  months  of  July  and  August  it  was  swarming  with 
travelers  from  every  quarter,  bringing  the  results  of  their  traffic 
carried  on  during  the  past  winter,  in  the  vast  regions  to  the 
north  and  west.  So  great  was  the  number  of  these  precious  pelts 
that  they  filled  immense  warehouses,  and  they  were  afterwards 
forwarded  in  vessels  coming  from  the  commercial  cities  of 
the  east.  In  this  island  the  fur  traders  bought  various  kinds 
of  merchandise  which  were  kept  there  in  immense  quantities 
for  the  purpose  of  trading  with  the  savages,  and  with  these 
purchases  they  left  in  August  or  even  before,  in  their  little 
boats,  for  their  own  abodes.  Some  of  these  men  employed  by 
the  Fur  Company  had  to  travel  two  months  by  land  and  water 
before  seeing  their  own  poor  homes,  and  this  by  reason  of 
the  mode  of  travel  and  the  conditions  which  they  are  obliged 
to  meet, —  the  cold  and  the  ice  on  Lake  Superior  often  putting 
these  poor  people  to  most  grievous  trials.  Those  who  were 
inferior  employees  in  the  Fur  Trade,  led  a  most  laborious  life 
in  a  wild  country  exposed  to  all  the  miseries  of  traveling,  of 


26    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

cold  and  very  often  of  starvation,  while  the  gentlemen  who  em- 
ployed them,  were  enjoying  all  the  delicacies  and  luxuries  of 
the  beautiful,  populous  cities  of  the  great  Republic.  These 
hints  as  to  the  conditions  of  these  countries  will  serve  to  throw 
some  light  upon  what  will  be  recorded  later. 

Upon  Mackinac  Island  is  a  little  village  of  about  five  hun- 
dred souls,  the  greater  part  Catholics  and  of  Canadian  descent : 
the  language  usually  spoken  is  French.  At  least  two-thirds 
of  the  Catholics  had  married  with  the  natives,  so  the  youth 
were  of  mixed  race.  There  was  a  little  wooden  church, 
erected  by  the  piety  of  the  faithful  who  were  sometimes  visited 
by  a  priest  from  Detroit.  This  served  to  keep  their  Faith 
alive  although  without  the  lights  which  make  it  so  rational  and 
attractive.  When  our  missionary  had  set  foot  upon  this  island, 
it  is  easy  to  imagine  the  consolation  of  the  poor  settlers,  when 
they  found  out  that  he  was  to  make  his  principal  stay  there. 
On  the  Lord's  Day  he  gathered  the  little  flock  around  the  sanc- 
tuary to  praise  God  and  to  hear  the  Divine  Word.  But  in  order 
to  visit  another  of  his  missions,  before  the  cold  season,  he  set 
out  on  this  first  of  November  in  one  of  the  Traders'  boats, 
and  after  a  journey  of  two  hundred  miles  arrived  at 
Green  Bay,  situated  at  the  southern  extremity  of  the  gulf  of 
the  same  name,  a  part  of  Lake  Michigan.  The  people 
there  were  in  the  same  physical  and  moral  condition  as  those 
of  the  Island.  For  the  first  time,  he  celebrated  Mass  in  a 
garret  as  there  was  neither  a  church  there  nor  a  room  large 
enough  to  accommodate  the  people.  Some  of  the  Catholics 
profited  by  that  occasion  to  receive  Holy  Communion,  but  the 
greater  number  were  indifferent  and  insensible  to  piety  from 
their  lack  of  instructions,  of  priests,  of  a  church  and  of  every- 
thing that  could  win  them  to  virtue.  One  thing,  however,  con- 
soled the  Missionary's  heart,  and  that  was  the  unusually  sin- 
cere disposition  towards  holy  religion,  which  was  manifested 
by  the  Indians  of  these  parts.  Very  many  of  these  poor  chil- 
dren of  nature  came  to  see  the  priest,  and  accustomed  to  a 
sacrifice  although  a  superstitious  one,  they  were  delighted  to 
assist  at  Holv  Mass,  which  thev  believed  to  be  the  Sacrifice  in 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    27 

the  Christian  manner.  The  priest  did  not  fail  to  call  them 
around  him,  and  by  means  of  an  interpreter,  to  tell  them  of  his 
joy  at  their  good  will  to  know  the  God  of  the  Christians,  and 
after  giving  them  a  brief,  general  idea  of  the  Catholic  Faith, 
he  exhorted  them  to  turn  to  the  Great  Spirit  (for  so  they  call 
God)  in  order  to  obtain  the  grace  to  know  the  true  religion, 
and  strength  necessary  for  abandoning  error  and  practising 
virtue:  so  that  they  might  enjoy  after  death  that  happiness 
that  the  Great  Spirit  promised  to  all  good  Christians.  These 
few  words  spoken  with  the  greatest  simplicity  had  the  desired 
effect  as  will  be  seen  later.  The  hope  of  accomplishing  some 
good  in  that  part  of  the  world,  with  the  help  of  Divine  grace, 
was  so  well  founded  that  he  planned  to  make  a  long  and  active 
visit  there  the  next  spring. 

From  his  return  to  Mackinac  on  November  sixteenth  the 
priest  was  occupied  in  the  instruction  and  spiritual  progress 
of  his  little  flock.  The  church  was  well  attended  on  account  of 
the  heavenly  word  preached  to  them,  which  produced  a  bene- 
ficial effect  upon  those  who  for  so  many  years  had  had  no 
opportunity  to  receive  the  teachings  of  the  church  from  the 
mouth  of  the  priest,  or  even  from  books,  for  few  knew  how 
to  read.  The  festive  days  of  Christmastide  were  celebrated 
with  somewhat  of  solemnity,  but  the  holy  sacraments  of  Pen- 
ance and  the  Eucharist  were  received  by  only  a  few  people. 
It  is  only  too  true  that  a  long  delay  in  sin  makes  the  human 
heart  insensible.  For  that  reason  it  was  the  duty  of  the  min- 
ister of  the  Lord  to  put  into  practice  on  such  occasions  the 
advice  of  Saint  Paul  to  Timothy :  "Preach  the  word,  be  instant 
in  season,  out  of  season;  reprove,  entreat,  rebuke  in  all  pa- 
tience and  doctrine."  (Timothy  II,  iv,  2.)  In  truth,  the 
young  priest  was  not  lacking  in  that  abundance  of  zeal  which 
is  usually  the  first  fruit  of  ordination.  Would  to  God  that 
he  and  all  priests  in  the  world  might  persevere  and  bear  with 
them  to  the  tomb,  the  holy  fervor  which  animated  them  when 
by  means  of  Holy  Orders  they  were  raised  to  the  sublime  dig- 
nity of  Ambassadors  of  Christ ! 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  INFALLIBILITY  OF  THE  CHURCH,  THE  SU- 
PREMACY OF  THE  POPE,  THE  REAL  PRES- 
ENCE OF  CHRIST  IN  THE  HOLY  EUCHARIST, 
CONFESSION,  PURGATORY,  THE  INTERCES- 
SION OF  THE  SAINTS,  THE  USE  OF  HOLY 
IMAGES,  AND  ANTICHRIST,  SUBJECTS  OF  SIX 
DISCOURSES  DELIVERED  BY  A  CALVINISTIC 
MINISTER  IN  1831. 

When  the  Evil  One  sees  himself  in  a  strait  and  in  danger 
of  losing  his  dominion  over  souls,  he  puts  in  operation  every- 
thing to  hinder  their  conversion.  There  was  a  proof  of  this 
in  the  violent  warfare  which  he  roused  in  the  Island  against 
the  Catholic  religion  during  the  winter  of  183 1.  A  small  con- 
gregation of  Presbyterians  had  a  church  in  that  village  and 
a  large  school  attended  also  by  Catholics,  as  there  was  no  other 
school  in  the  place.  The  minister  of  that  sect,  at  the  sugges- 
tion of  some  of  the  most  zealous  of  his  followers,  thought  to 
do  a  service  to  God  and  to  his  neighbor  by  inviting  the  people 
of  the  Island  to  listen  to  various  lectures  full  of  arguments, 
as  he  imagined,  against  the  principal  dogmas  of  the  holy  Cath- 
olic church.  What  the  motives  were  that  urged  him  to  begin 
this  warfare  and  to  disturb  the  peace  and  concord  that  reigned 
in  the  Island  were  not  unknown  to  the  public.  Before  this 
year,  the  Presbyterian  Church  although  inferior  in  numbers 
to  that  of  the  Catholics  was  superior  as  to  the  influence  and 
worldly  knowledge  of  its  followers  to  that  of  the  poor  Cana- 
dians, who  without  a  shepherd  were  wandering  away  from  the 
bounden  duties  of  the  Christian.  But  as  soon  as  their  little 
church  was  attended  by  a  priest  and  the  people  began  to  show 
signs  of  a  more  regular  life,  then  only  was  it  thought  neces- 

[28] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    29 

sary  to  unfurl  the  banner  of  religious  novelties  and  to  per- 
suade the  people  that  what  seemed  to  be  producing  a  salutary 
moral  effect,  was  the  very  society  of  Lucifer. 

A  brief  digression  upon  the  subjects  of  the  religious  con- 
troversy held  at  Mackinac  will  serve  to  make  clear  to  the 
reader  the  strong  opposition  against  Catholicity  which  the 
Protestant  pulpits  strained  every  nerve  to  keep  alive. 

The  determined  plan  of  the  Calvinistic  minister  did  not, 
in  the  least,  intimidate  the  young  Priest  who  in  order  to  make 
answer  more  exactly  went  in  person  accompanied  by  many  of 
his  confreres  to  the  Church  where  his  opponent  intended  to 
direct  all  the  force  of  his  own  wisdom  against  the  Faith  of 
Jesus  Christ.  On  the  night  of  January  9,  183 1,  the  Rev.  T. 
in  a  discourse  of  an  hour  and  a  half,  brought  forward  all 
those  arguments  which  the  fanatics  of  the  last  few  centuries 
have  employed  to  free  themselves  from  the  unity  of  the 
Church  of  Christ,  accusing  her  of  being  fallible  and  in  fact  of 
having  erred  in  many  points  of  doctrine.  The  Scriptures  he 
pretended  to  be  the  sole  infallible  guide,  and,  he  said,  he  had 
vainly  searched  therein  for  one  proof  that  our  Redeemer  had 
founded  one  society  free  from  error.  OH !  how  blind  is  man 
when  abandoned  to  himself !  The  minister  did  not  see  that, 
granting  his  assertion  to  be  true,  all  Protestant  societies  were 
accused  of  fallibility.  He  did  not  think  that  appealing  to  the 
Bible  interpreted  by  private  judgment,  he  was  reducing  all  the 
religion  of  Christ  to  one  universal  doubt.  Destroying  the  in- 
fallibility of  the  Church,  or  as  some  prefer  to  express  it,  the 
infallibility  of  an  interpreter  of  Holy  Scriptures,  is  the  same 
as  destroying  the  infallibility  of  every  dogma  of  Christianity, 
which  is  equivalent  to  the  total  destruction  of  the  Christian 
Faith  ;  because  all  dogmatic  and  moral  doctrines  of  Christianity 
are  then  reduced  to  a  simple  chain  of  arguments  founded  upon 
the  fallible  individual  reason  which  is  interpreting  the  Bible.    ^ 

In  a  second  discourse  the  Calvinist  vented  his  spleen  upon 
the  Ecclesiastical  Hierarchy,  openly  denying  the  supremacy 
of  Saint  Peter  and,  in  consequence,  that  of  his  successors. 
In  order  to  bring  conviction  to  his  hearers,  he  deemed  it  neces- 


30    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

sary  to  make  a  violent  attack  upon  various  passages  of  the 
Sacred  Text  and  even  against  good  sense,  intermingling  facts 
and  personal  abuses  as  conclusive  proofs  against  the  very  dogma 
of  the  visible  unity  of  the  spiritual  power  of  the  Church. 
Violence,  contemptuous  language,  ever  form  the  ordinary  way 
followed  by  one  who  secretly  admires  and  envies  in  others 
what  he  can  in  no  wise  himself  possess.  In  fact,  the  sects, 
unable  to  find  in  history  the  thread  which  should  unite  them 
with  Apostolic  times,  and  seeing  themselves  condemned  by 
the  justice  of  God  to  disorder  and  confusion,  like  that  of  the 
Tower  of  Babel,  dominated  against  their  will  by  the  worst 
anarchy  that  ever  existed  on  earth,  seek  for  some  retaliation 
in  denying  the  divinity  of  that  centre  of  Unity  which  as  a 
Sun  of  Truth,  vivifies,  preserves  and  illumines  for  so  many 
ages  the  kingdom  of  Christ  militant.  The  ignorance,  there- 
fore, or  if  it  may  be  credited,  the  malice  of  the  minister  did 
not  permit  him  to  see  the  inexcusable  absurdity  of  using 
some  personal  disorders  recorded  in  the  histories  of  the  suc- 
cessors of  Saint  Peter  as  convincing  arguments  that  the 
Supremacy  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome  is  not  the  holy  work  of 
Christ;  thus  confounding  the  divine  bestowal  of  the  Keys 
with  the  man  receiving  them, —  the  character  holy  and  ven- 
erable, with  the  weakness  of  him  invested  therewith.  Such 
logic  would  be  condemned  by  the  very  Protestant  churches 
themselves,  if  it  were  employed  against  the  holy  college  of 
Apostles,  because  one  of  them  betrayed  his  Divine  Master. 
Strange  to  hear  a  citizen  of  the  Republic  declaim  against  a 
centre  of  unity  of  government,  in  the  spiritual  commonwealth 
of  Christ,  while  he  as  a  faithful  citizen,  professed  to  believe 
in  and  submit  to  the  supremacy  of  a  civil  magistrate,  so  neces- 
sary, so  indispensable  to  the  good  order,  happiness  and  union 
of  the  states,  although  independent  of  one  another.  Reason 
might  well  be  angered  thereat. 

The  Real  Presence  of  Christ  in  the  most  august  Sacrament 
of  the  Eucharist  gave  the  Protestant  minister  the  opportunity 
of  seconding  the  modern  mania  for  denying  the  existence  of 
everything  which  cannot  be  seen  with  the  eyes  of  the  body. 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    31 

His  theology  upon  this  sublimest  of  Sacraments  consisted  in 
reducing  it  to  a  mere  figure  of  Christ,  thus  lowering  the 
Christian  dogma  below  the  beautiful  figure  employed  by  the 
Jews  when  they  celebrated  the  Pasch,  by  eating  a  lamb  in 
the  midst  of  the  family.  The  clear  words  of  our  Redeemer 
in  the  four  Gospels,  and  of  Saint  Paul  to  the  Corinthians 
were  rejected  by  him  as  bearing  a  meaning  which  was  not 
in  the  words  themselves.  It  seemed  impossible  to  his  under- 
standing that  such  a  change  could  be  operated  in  the  Sacra- 
ment, and  the  idea  of  a  man  receiving  his  Creator  was 
altogether  unbelievable.  Many  other  vain  arguments  were 
suggested  by  unbelief  against  the  most  holy,  the  most  precious, 
the  most  exalted  of  the  adorable  mysteries  of  the  Redemp- 
tion, wrought  by  the  same  incarnate  Wisdom.  But  who 
taught  a  minister  that  the  Sacraments  of  the  Christian  Religion 
did  not  contain  the  reality  of  things?  The  Messias  came  not 
to  substitute  one  figure  for  another;  prophecies  and  symbols 
belonged  to  that  imperfect  law  of  which  the  Apostle  writes 
to  the  Hebrews :  "The  law  brought  nothing  to  perfection." 
(Heb.  VII,  19.)  In  the  New  Testament,  the  Christian  soul 
lives  only  upon  what  is  true  and  real.  Christ  Himself  assures 
us  of  this  when  he  says:  "My  flesh  is  meat  indeed  and  my 
blood  is  drink,  indeed."  (John  VI,  56.)  The  Scriptures  are 
full  of  similar  expressions.  Of  what  use,  then,  are  the  words 
of  Truth  itself  to  him  who  will  not  believe  in  it,  and  who 
joins  those  false  disciples  who  once  followed  Jesus  and  strove 
among  themselves  saying:  "How  can  this  man  give  us  His 
Flesh  to  eat  ?"  "This  saying  is  hard  and  who  can  hear  it  ?"  (John 
VI.)  See  how  unbelief  reasons:  it  asks  Divine  Omnipotence, 
although  incomprehensible  in  its  essence  and  in  all  its  works, 
in  what  manner  it  can  give  to  its  own  followers  the  adorable 
Flesh  of  the  Lamb  Immaculate,  and  when  it  cannot  compre- 
hend the  unsearchable  ways  of  Omnipotence,  finds  his  doctrine 
hard,  no  longer  able  to  bear  the  hearing  it,  "after  this  it  goes 
back  and  walks  no  more  with  Him."  (John  VI,  67.)  The 
blindness  of  one  who  lives  outside  the  Church  suffers  him 


32    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

not  to  believe  that  mysterious  sentence  of  Jesus:  "Amen, 
amen,  I  say  unto  you :  Except  you  eat  the  Flesh  of  the  Son 
of  man  and  drink  His  Blood,  you  shall  not  have  life  in  you." 
(John  VI,  54.)  The  mysterious,  invisible  union  of  the  soul 
with  Jesus  in  the  Sacrament  of  Faith,  far  from  being  a 
strange  thing  is  in  truth  a  simple  foretaste  of  that  free,  glori- 
ous, perfect  intercourse  which  one  day  will  ravish  the  soul 
and  the  body  of  man  away  from  their  present  state,  to  trans- 
form them  into  the  very  Divinity  of  God.  It  is  almost  useless, 
however,  to  speak  of  these  truths  to  one  who  rejects  the  light 
of  Faith  and  judges  according  to  the  flesh  as  Saint  Paul 
declares,  that  "the  sensual  man  perceiveth  not  these  things 
that  are  of  the  Spirit  of  God ;  for  it  is  foolishness  to  him  and 
he  cannot  understand,  because  it  is  spiritually  examined." 
(I  Cor.  II,  14.) 

Were  Sacramental  Confession  not  of  obligation  in  the  true 
Church,  the  opposition  of  its  enemies  would  not  be  so  furious, 
and  the  Calvinistic  minister  of  Mackinac  would  have  omitted 
his  fourth  lecture.  The  idea  of  confessing  one's  own  faults 
to  a  creature  like  ourselves  was  always  too  humbling  to 
human  pride,  which  found  in  the  enemy  of  the  Catholic 
Church  many  excuses  for  freeing  one's  self  from  this  cruel 
torture,  as  it  likes  to  be  called.  Among  many  errors  this  false 
theologian  denied  that  Christ  had  conferred  upon  the  Apostles 
the  power  of  forgiving  and  of  retaining  sins,  declaring  that 
these  expressions  merely  signified  the  power  of  preaching  the 
Gospel,  by  means  of  which  sins  were  pardoned.  Then  he 
rambled  on  to  calm  the  stings  of  conscience  and  to  claim  for 
his  own  sect  the  sublime  gift  of  the  Son  of  the  Everlasting 
God,  communicated  to  His  representatives.  Nature  herself, 
even  without  the  light  of  the  Gospel,  suggests  to  the  man 
fallen  into  sin  the  remedy  of  a  humble  confession,  and  con- 
science seems  to  leave  him  no  respite  nor  to  promise  him 
peace  of  heart  except  at  the  cost  of  a  confidential  declaration 
of  his  own  fault.  The  worldly  live  slaves  to  the  secret  but 
stern  reproaches  of  a  guilty  conscience  which  they  cannot 
hush  even  in  the  silence  of  night,  while  Christians  are  called 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    33 

by  the  Holy  Faith  to  lay  down  the  grievous  burden  of  their 
sins  with  their  vicious  attachments  at  the  feet  of  him  who 
represents  upon  earth  the  Divine  Mercy.  There  they  exchange 
the  restless,  cruel,  deadly  worm  of  conscience  for  that  peace 
of  soul  and  of  heart  that  the  world  could  never  give.  It  was 
for  our  Redeemer  to  provide  the  necessary  remedies  for  the 
spiritual  ills  of  fallen  humanity,  and  therefore  did  He  say  to 
His  disciples :  "Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost.  Whose  sins  you 
shall  forgive,  they  are  forgiven  them ;  and  whose  sins  you  shall 
retain,  they  are  retained."  (John  XX,  22,  23.)  Why  will 
the  Christian  deny  to  his  Saviour  the  power  of  communicating 
His  graces  through  the  ministry  of  men?  Yet  the  Calvinistic 
minister  seemed  to  forget  that  he  himself  was  preaching,  bap- 
tizing and  distributing  his  own  figurative  sacrament,  led  solely 
by  his  persuasion  that  Christ  had  authorized  these  things. 
And  while  he  was  pretending  to  remit  sins  by  means  of  preach- 
ing and  baptism,  why  then  condemn  the  Catholic  minister's 
doing  the  same  thing  which  he  believed  possible,  although  in 
a  different  manner !  The  history  of  error  has  always  been 
one  of  contradiction.  Good  sense  leads  us  to  this  alternative; 
either  the  words  of  Christ  above  spoken  signify  precisely  the 
power  to  remit  and  to  retain  sins,  or  there  is  nothing  in  Holy 
Writ  that  is  clear  and  intelligible. 

The  Presbyterian  minister  was  not  content  with  the 
attempts  he  made  to  destroy  the  truth  last  attacked,  but 
through  a  kind  of  inborn  disposition  to  protest,  he  attempted 
in  another  lecture  to  persuade  his  hearers  that  there  was  no 
place  in  the  life  to  come  for  satisfying  the  penalty  due  sin  not 
atoned  for  in  this  life,  that  is, — that  there  was  no  Purgatory. 
He  inveighed  furiously,  as  he  went  on,  against  the  pious  prac- 
tice of  invoking  the  intercession  of  the  Saints  and  declared 
that  the  use  of  sacred  images,  not  even  excepting  those  of 
Christ  Himself,  was  sinful.  These  denials  cannot  surprise 
one  who  is  acquainted  with  the  real  spirit  of  Protestant  the- 
ology, which  teaches  that  the  Messias  has  done  everything  for 
us,  and  that  corporal  penance  is,  consequently,  useless  and 
superstitious,  in  a  word  it  denies  penance  for  sin.     Wherever 


34    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

the  word  "penance"  occurs  in  the  Bible,  the  English  Protestant 
version  has  the  word  "repentance."  So,  as  there  are  no  pen- 
ances to  be  performed,  Purgatory  becomes  useless.  O  how 
easy  and  how  broad  is  the  way  that  leads  to  the  Protestant 
heaven !  It  was  reasonable  for  one  who  had  no  Saints  to 
invoke  to  deny  the  Intercession  of  the  Saints;  those  heroes  of 
all  Christian  virtues  sealed  with  miracles  belong  exclusively 
to  the  Catholic  Church.  Here  is  one  of  the  principal  reasons 
for  the  invention  of  so  many  miserable,  absurd  and  contra- 
dictory excuses  for  abandoning  the  doctrine  and  denying  the 
utility  of  this  pious  practice.  They  believe  with  the  Bible  that 
the  demon  knows  our  thoughts  and  is  therefore  in  a  state  to 
tempt  us,  but  they  refuse  to  the  Angels  of  God  a  like  knowl- 
edge which  permits  them  to  draw  us  towards  good.  This  of 
a  certainty  is  an  obscure  and  degrading  theology.  The  min- 
ister condemned  the  use  of  sacred  images  as  idolatry.  His 
knowledge  of  the  revealed  word  must  have  been  very  limited, 
since  in  the  Old  Testament  where  idolatry  is  forbidden,  the 
use  of  religious  images,  of  angels,  for  instance,  was  com- 
manded by  Moses  and  introduced  into  the  Temple  by  Solomon. 
But  the  theologians  of  the  last  centuries  find  it  more  appro- 
priate to  substitute  for  the  representations  of  holy  things  those 
of  heroes  and  friends,  but  chiefly  those  of  friends.  The  min- 
ister aforesaid  had  in  his  room  a  framed  picture  of  Antichrist 
surrounded  by  his  satellites ;  but  the  Priest  without  envy  of 
the  choice  taste  of  his  opponent  preferred  the  image  of  Christ 
and  His  Immaculate  Mother. 

In  his  last  fiery  harangue  against  the  Catholic  Religion  he 
displayed  all  his  hatred,  contempt  and  vindictiveness  in  the 
supreme  effort  he  made  to  prove  as  possible  what  he  desired 
to  be  true,  namely  that  the  Catholic  Church  is  the  true  church 
of  Antichrist.  The  fallen  prince  of  the  abyss  could  not  have 
been  able  to  vomit  forth  greater  contradictions,  accusa- 
tions and  blasphemies  in  order  to  attain  his  dark  design.  By 
abuse  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  especially  of  the  apocalypse  of 
Saint  John,  without  even  allowing  the  supposition  of  any 
mysterious   meaning  therein,   he  gave   to   the   words   of   the 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    35 

Beloved  Apostle  a  literal  or  figurative  signification  as  it  suited 
his  fancy,  and  then,  perverting  history  and  the  circumstances 
of  the  past,  he  strove  to  show  a  perfect  analogy  between  the 
character  of  Antichrist  and  those  of  the  Supreme  Pontiff  and 
of  the  Church.  Not  content  with  all  that,  the  minister  predicted 
the  ruin  of  the  entire  Roman  Catholic  Church  for  the  year  2000. 
If  our  Saviour  was  accused  by  the  Pharisees  of  "casting  out 
devils  by  Beelzebub,  the  prince  of  devils"  (Luke  XI,  15),  we 
need  not  be  at  all  surprised  to  see  later  hypocrites  uttering  like 
blasphemies.  Because  to  Lucifer  it  was  denied  to  make  him- 
self like  to  the  Most  High,  he  made  war  against  Heaven;  and 
so  do  those  furiously  attack  the  works  of  Christ,  who  are 
unable  to  make  their  own  proud  and  sacrilegious  efforts  like 
unto  His.  Playing  the  prophet  is  a  thing  much  in  vogue  with 
those  who  desire  to  be  of  importance ;  yet  the  prophecies 
against  the  Catholic  Church  have  been  so  numerous  and  so 
often  falsified  in  the  course  of  time,  during  the  last  three 
centuries,  that  the  minister  deemed  it  prudent  to  take  a  hun- 
dred and  eighty  years  for  the  verification  of  his  own  predic- 
tions— that  is,  when  neither  he  nor  his  hearers  will  be  here. 

Thus  the  false  prophet  held  forth  for  six  Sundays  between 
eight  o'clock  and  ten  in  the  evening  in  the  fond  hope  of  con- 
firming his  own  followers  in  their  opposition  to  the  truth, 
and  of  creating  at  least  more  or  less  doubt  in  the  hearts  of 
those  who  possessed  the  gift  of  the  true  Faith.  The  Catholic 
Missionary  in  defense  of  holy  Religion,  was  obliged  to  answer 
to  the  accusations  of  his  adversary  in  his  own  Church  and 
publicly;  he  chose  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  as  a  con- 
venient time  for  such  a  discussion.  By  this  arrangement  both 
Catholic  and  Protestant  had  the  opportunity  of  being  present 
on  one  Sunday,  in  the  evening  to  hear  the  accusations  and 
arguments  of  him  who  was  the  aggressor,  and  on  the  next 
Sunday  of  hearing  the  answers  from  the  mouth  of  the  Priest. 
There  was,  however,  a  notable  difference  in  that  dispute, 
which  was  that  the  aggressor  did  not  give  the  liberty  to  his 
hearers  of  replying  to  him  in  his  own  Church,  while  the 
defendant  had  publicly  offered  his  hearers  the  privilege  of 


36    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

interrupting  him  with  objections  at  the  very  time  when  he  was 
giving  his  replies.  If  the  reader  of  this  little  history  of  public 
religious  controversy  desires  to  know  anything  about  the 
result,  he  may  care  to  read  the  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER  VI 

CONVERSION  OF  THREE  PROTESTANTS  TO  THE 
CATHOLIC  FAITH,  ON  THE  ISLAND  OF  MACK- 
INAC, IN  1831. 

A  public  disputation  on  the  dogmas  of  Christianity  in  a 
country  where  the  people  are  unfortunately  divided  into  so 
many  sects,  thus  creating  confusion  and  disorder  in  the  minds 
of  men,  usually  rouses  the  curiosity  of  some  and  the  good 
faith  of  others.  The  people  of  the  Island  assembled  to  listen 
to  him  who  was  carrying  it  on  as  a  true  Protestant  minister, 
by  proving  to  the  best  of  his  ability  his  own  protestations 
against  the  Catholic  Faith,  and  they  crowded  around  him  who 
was  to  make  the  defense  with  the  same  anxiety.  This  con- 
troversy was  carried  on  in  English,  as  it  was  the  language  of 
the  Protestants  and  was  understood  by  almost  all  the  Catholics. 
Although  the  Missionary  occupied  more  than  one  hour  and 
sometimes  two  in  his  replies  he  was  compelled  by  the  very 
nature  of  the  subject  to  divide  his  arguments  into  fourteen 
discourses.  Ignorance  and  unbelief  are  always  made  up  of 
negatives,  doubts,  and  bare  assertions  based  upon  facts  of 
which  they  are  not  the  natural  and  legitimate  consequences. 
Therefore  Truth  in  her  manifestation  is  compelled  to  take 
two  roads,  either  over  that  of  her  enemies,  following  the 
wanderings  of  their  intellects,  or  over  that  noble,  safe,  divine 
one, — that  is  of  Right  Reasoning.  The  Calvinist  did  not  follow 
the  Priest's  example,  for  he  refused  to  assist  in  person  at  his 
antagonist's  lectures  as  the  latter  had  done ;  perhaps  he  feared 
to  be  contaminated,  in  the  Catholic  Church,  by  the  holy  images 
adorning  it,  so  great  was  the  exterior  holiness  of  his  Pharisaical 
demeanor. 

Among  those  interested  in  the  religious  controversy  were 

[37] 


38    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

a  certain  S.  A.,  member  of  the  Anglican  Church ;  M.  G.  of  the 
same  church ;  a  young  girl,  A.  T.,  follower  of  the  sect  of  the 
Calvinists,  and  many  other  individuals  of  sincere  dispositions, 
as  was  seen  in  after  years.  It  will  not  be  out  of  place  to 
touch  lightly  upon  some  of  the  circumstances  which  accom- 
panied the  conversion  of  the  persons  here  alluded  to,  to  the 
True  Faith. 

When  Mr.  S.  A.,  through  curiosity  or  some  other  light 
motive,  first  went  to  the  Catholic  Church,  he  stood  up 
during  the  Holy  Sacrifice  with  his  back  to  the  Altar;  such 
was  his  unbelief  in  the  mysteries  of  the  Faith.  Yet  he 
was  a  just  man,  according  to  the  world's  standard,  liberal, 
loved  by  his  neighbors,  a  man  in  easy  circumstances  and  well 
endowed  with  talent.  He  believed,  in  all  good  faith,  in 
the  truth  of  that  sect  in  which  his  parents  had  trained  him, 
preserving  in  his  heart  that  aversion  to  Catholicity  which 
usually  distinguishes  those  who  are  firm  in  their  own  be- 
lief. Almighty  God  Who  wills  all  men  to  be  saved, 
furnishing  sufficient  means  for  persevering  in  grace  or  for 
obtaining  it  by  means  of  the  reading  of  good  books  and  con- 
versation of  good  Catholics,  aroused  in  the  mind  of  S.  A. 
doubts  which  thoroughly  disturbed  that  faith  in  which  he  had 
lived;  nor  did  he  slumber  when  the  Voice  of  the  Lord  called 
him  secretly  unto  Himself,  but  opening  his  door,  so  to  speak,  to 
the  Heavenly  Spouse  Who  knocked  he  composed  a  short 
prayer  as  he  declared  after  his  conversion,  a  prayer  which  he 
recited  every  day,  wherein  he  implored  light  and  grace  to 
know  the  truth.  This  was  just  like  the  simple,  sincere  and 
fervent  prayer  of  the  youthful  Prophet  Samuel:  "Speak, 
Lord,  for  Thy  servant  heareth."  If  all  the  sinners  of  the 
world,  and  they  who  live  outside  the  unity  of  the  Church  of 
Christ,  when  they  are  troubled  by  misfortunes,  by  bitter 
remorse  and  by  doubts  about  the  truth  of  the  sects  to  which 
they  belong  would,  like  that  person  of  whom  we  speak,  with 
fervent  prayers  go  to  the  Divine  Mercy  which  calls  them  to 
itself  by  such  ways,  they  would  speedily  find  that  peace  and 
that   faith  which  are  the  solid  foundation  and  the  pledge  of 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    39 

future  happiness.  In  short,  the  fruit  of  that  fervent  prayer 
was  the  compelling  force  and  interest  which  urged  that  soul 
in  doubt,  to  the  churches  of  the  Island  in  the  winter  of  183 1, 
in  order  to  get  explanations  regarding  the  important  affair, 
the  knowledge  of  the  true  and  divine  religion.  His  good  will 
was  such  that  he  often  visited  the  Priest  for  the  clearing  up 
of  the  last  difficulties  which  lingered  in  his  mind  upon  the 
last  subject  discussed.  So  grace  waxed  strong,  aided  by  the 
sincerity  of  a  heart  loving  and  longing  for  the  Way,  the  Truth 
and  the  Life. 

Lent  was  already  advanced  when  our  neophyte  declared 
his  belief  that  the  Catholic  Religion  was  the  work  of  Christ 
Himself  and  that  the  sects  separated  from  her  he  considered 
as  so  many  rebellions  of  various  individuals  among  them, 
devised  under  specious  and  vain  pretexts.  Yet  none  the  less 
did  the  life  of  a  true  Catholic  seem  to  him  difficult  and  almost 
impossible  and  for  that  reason  he  feared  to  take  a  step  fol- 
lowed by  too  heavy  obligations.  The  greatest  of  all  the 
obstacles  opposed  by  the  enemy  of  man's  salvation,  was  Sac- 
ramental Confession.  The  idea  of  making  the  humble  accu- 
sation with  that  sincere  grief  without  which  the  whole  difficult 
undertaking  would  be  only  an  insult  to  the  Divinity,  so 
appalled  him  as  almost  to  make  him  abandon  the  way  of 
salvation.  Finally,  the  Missionary  weary  with  hearing  from 
his  mouth  protestations  of  Faith  in  the  Church,  without  seeing 
him  at  the  feet  of  Divine  Mercy,  decided  to  make  known  to 
him,  seventeen  days  before  Easter,  that  if  within  two  weeks 
he  had  not  complied  with  that  duty  which  he  had  already 
recognized  as  descending  from  a  divine  command,  there  would 
be  no  more  response  to  his  religious  demands,  nor  any  further 
discourse  held  with  him  upon  that  important  subject.  This 
course  was  taken  through  fear  of  seeing  him  guilty  of  resisting 
divine  grace  or  of  falling  into  final  impenitence.  But  lo !  on 
Good  Friday  Mr.  S.  A.  presented  himself  for  Sacramental 
Confession  in  the  tribunal  of  penance  blessed  with  the  heav- 
enly grace  granted  to  the  humble  and  ever  denied  to  the  proud. 
From  afar  the  yoke  of  Christ  seems  grievous  and  insupport- 


40    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

able  to  one  who  rejects  it;  but  how  sweet  and  light  did  the 
tender  heart  of  this  man  find  it,  whom  we  shall  now  leave  to 
his  pious  meditations  and  affections,  in  his  preparation  for 
Holy  Communion,  that  we  may  speak  of  two  others  who  were 
to  accompany  him  to  the  Holy  Table. 

A  certain  Mr.  M.  G.  whom  the  advanced  age  of  ninety-one 
years  had  deprived  of  sight,  was  considered  the  patriarch  of 
the  Island,  and  had  been  the  ocular  witness  of  the  various 
military  changes  which  in  times  past  had  disturbed  the  peace 
of  his  shores.  Trained  to  study  the  Bible  literally,  he  had 
acquired  in  the  course  of  so  many  years  such  a  knowledge  of 
it  that  when  he  was  speaking  of  it,  you  would  have  believed 
that  you  were  listening  to  him  reading  from  his  one  infallible 
guide.  Years  had  more  and  more  fixed  and  made  him  obdu- 
rate in  his  own  mode  of  understanding  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
and  he  defended  himself  easily  from  the  sectarians  who  through 
curiosity  or  compassion  took  the  liberty  of  opposing  his  doc- 
trine. The  Priest  did  not  pass  many  days  at  Mackinac  without 
paying  a  visit  to  the  blind  theologian  with  some  hope  in  his 
heart  that  the  Lord  in  His  mercy  would  not  suffer  him  to  go 
down  to  the  tomb  before  opening  his  eyes  to  the  truth.  But 
great  was  his  surprise  to  find  the  old  gentleman  jovial  and 
inclined  to  talk  of  the  old  times,  when,  strong  and  robust,  he 
lived  in  those  places  still  occupied  by  various  savage  tribes; 
he  told  of  their  long,  bloody  and  cruel  wars,  and  the  reasons 
for  their  deadly  hatred  of  the  English  who  in  his  early  years 
had  possession  of  that  country  and  had  carried  on  there  a 
profitable  trade  with  the  tribes.  The  Missionary,  little  dis- 
posed to  talk  over  such  changes,  interrupted  him  to  give  oppor- 
tunity for  a  more  serious  matter,  that  is,  to  ask  him  if  he  did 
not  think  it  better  to  talk  about  eternity.  The  old  man 
became  silent  to  listen  to  some  word  of  life,  but  very  soon 
returned  to  his  stories ;  interrupted  again  by  speaking  of  his 
sect,  he  set  to  work  to  defend  it  with  various  texts  of  the 
sacred  page,  and  to  settle  all  difficulties,  he  declared  his  belief 
that  with  only  faith  in  his  Bible,  he  could  be  saved.  A  second 
visit  found  him  still  more  indisposed  and  averse  to  religious 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    41 

subjects.  However,  as  our  blind  theologian  had  heard  of  the 
vigorous  controversy  between  the  Missionary  and  the  Min- 
ister, he  with  the  help  of  his  niece,  placed  himself  among  the 
number  of  hearers.  A  strange  thing  for  him  to  enter  a 
church!  but  he  corresponded  with  divine  grace,  by  doing 
violence  to  that  insensibility  in  religious  matters  which  would 
have  deprived  him  of  the  first  step  towards  the  truth.  How 
many  are  lost  by  denying  to  divine  mercy  that  tiny  sacrifice 
which  often  proves  to  be  the  invisible  seed  of  a  tree,  which  is 
to  bear  fruit  of  eternal  life.  The  old  gentleman  settling  him- 
self in  the  manner  of  one  who  did  not  care  whether  or  not  he 
was  seen  remained  near  the  speaker  and,  learned  as  he  was  in 
the  sacred  text  was  delighted  to  hear  it  so  often  quoted  as  a 
proof  of  Evangelical  and  Catholic  doctrine.  Grace  operated 
little  by  little  in  his  heart  once  so  indifferent,  startled  him  with 
the  assurance  of  death  so  near  him,  and  opened  the  eyes  of  his 
soul  to  the  greatest  revealed  truths, — so  that  at  the  beginning 
of  the  season  of  penance,  he  asked  for  a  visit  from  the  Priest. 
His  favorite  stories  of  human  affairs  all  forgotten,  the  old  man 
delighted  in  learning  the  holy  maxims  of  Christian  piety  and 
the  manner  in  which  he  was  to  prepare  for  his  reconciliation 
with  Divine  Justice ;  nor  did  he  delay  to  lay  bare  those  wounds 
of  his  soul  which  his  feeble  memory  could  recall  during  the 
course  of  a  long  life  filled  with  adventure, — thus  doing  vio- 
lence to  his  own  age,  to  the  good  opinion  of  his  own  knowledge 
and  to  self,  so  that  he  gladly  let  himself  be  led  like  a  little 
child  to  the  fulfillment  of  that  beautiful  word  of  Christ: 
"Unless  you  be  converted  and  become  as  little  children,  you 
shall  not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  Heaven."  (Matt.  XVIII,  3.) 
On  the  eve  of  the  glorious  Resurrection  of  our  Lord,  as  if 
the  eyes  of  the  spirit  had  opened  his  bodily  eyes,  he  left  his 
house  alone  (which  he  had  never  done  before)  and  trusting 
to  his  sense  of  feeling  by  means  of  his  stick,  betook  himself  to 
the  Priest's  house  in  order  to  seal  with  his  tears  that  sincere 
conversion  to  God,  which  although  coming  at  the  sunset  of 
life  was  to  receive  from  Divine  Munificence  a  crown  incor- 
ruptible. 


42    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

Religious  prejudices  instilled  into  the  tender  mind  of 
youth  have  always  been  a  fruitful  source  of  error  and  ruin 
to  the  soul  who  lets  herself  be  guided  by  them.  Such  was  the 
ill  fortune  of  the  youthful  A.  T.  before  her  conversion  to  the 
holy,  apostolic  Faith.  Left  by  her  father,  a  Protestant,  to 
the  care  of  a  wealthy,  distinguished  citizen,  surrounded  by 
adherents  of  various  sects,  who  knew  little  or  nothing  of 
Catholic  truths,  her  mind  was  insensibly  filled  with  strange 
and  immoral  beliefs  concerning  the  Faith  and  practices  of  the 
Catholic  Church.  On  her  return  to  the  Island  from  the  City 
of  Detroit  near  the  close  of  1830,  she  found  her  own  poor 
mother  already  in  communion  with  the  Holy  Church ;  but  her 
respect  for  her  mother  modified  her  resentment.  She  could 
hardly  be  induced  to  visit  the  House  of  the  Lord  or  to  enter 
into  a  conversation  with  the  Priest,  who  once  desired  to  present 
her  with  a  little  book  of  controversy.  The  coolness  with  which 
she  accepted  it  plainly  enough  displayed  indifference  carried 
almost  to  the  point  of  contempt.  Curiosity  more  than  any- 
thing else  led  her  to  take  part  in  the  religious  dispute  which 
was  interesting  the  entire  community  of  the  village.  The  Lord 
made  use  of  this  means  to  set  her  soul  free  from  the  preju- 
dices imbibed  in  infancy,  which  threatened  to  leave  her  to 
perish  in  the  darkness  of  false  doctrine;  and  thus  rendered 
somewhat  docile,  she  brought  back  her  little  book  to  the  Priest 
and  received  two  others  in  its  place.  Moved  by  a  sincere 
desire  for  her  own  salvation,  she  devoted  herself  to  the  study 
of  the  religion  that  she  had  despised,  and  when  called  by  grace 
she  did  not  remain  unbelieving.  She  finally  presented  herself 
to  receive  those  ordinary  instructions  usually  preceding  the 
Sacrament  of  Baptism ;  afterwards,  contrite  and  full  of  faith, 
she  disposed  herself  to  celebrate  the  holy  Feast  of  Easter  which 
was  to  purify  her  soul  in  the  laver  of  regeneration  and  present 
her  spotless  to  the  bosom  of  the  Church,  beloved  spouse  of 
Christ. 

She  then  asked  to  read  the  first  book  received :  on  being 
asked  her  motive,  she  replied  that  having  taken  the  book  in 
the  first  place  for  politeness,  she  was  so  much  afraid  of  awak- 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    43 

ening  doubts  in  her  own  heart  that  she  had  read  no  farther 
than  the  title-page.  Experience  has  taught  us,  that  very  many 
among  Protestants  wilfully  close  their  eyes  to  those  means  of 
salvation  afforded  them  by  God's  infinite  bounty;  that  they 
may  not  find  out  that  they  are  in  error,  and  under  obligation 
to  bear  Christ's  yoke — a  fear  which  presses  upon  them,  con- 
quers them  and  casts  them  into  religious  indifference. 

The  solemnity  of  the  Resurrection  of  Christ  of  the  year 
1831  was  therefore  celebrated  together  with  the  spiritual  resur- 
rection of  Mr.  S.  A.,  Mr.  M.  G.,  and  the  young  girl  A.  T., 
who  vivified  by  Faith  renounced  all  error  publicly  and  forever 
to  range  themselves  under  the  banner  of  the  Cross.  To  cement 
yet  more  closely  their  union  with  their  Heavenly  Redeemer, 
they  received  that  Mystic  Bread  of  the  Angels  which  gives 
life  eternal. 

It  was  only  too  true  that  the  Calvinistic  minister  after  his 
studied  attack  upon  Catholic  doctrine  had  not  the  consolation 
of  adding  to  the  number  of  his  followers ;  while,  humanly 
speaking,  the  religious  contest  that  he  roused  was  the  indirect 
cause  of  the  conversion  of  several  Protestants,  and  contributed 
to  render  the  holy  Faith  more  luminous  and  manifest  to  many 
to  whom  it  had  been  only  imperfectly  known.  The  Church 
and  the  Sacraments  began  to  be  better  attended,  Religion 
brought  into  greater  veneration,  the  Priesthood  more  respected. 
Behold  how  evil  is  often  wrought  in  God's  hands  into  an 
instrument  for  working  good. 

To  crown  the  triumph  of  truth,  a  plan  was  devised  for 
enlarging  the  House  of  God,  by  building  a  new  Sanctuary,  and 
enclosing  the  former  one  in  the  body  of  the  Church  which 
was  then  entirely  renovated ;  besides,  a  sacristy  was  built,  as 
also  a  small  wooden  house  as  a  dwelling  for  the  Priest.  The 
faithful  contributed  each  according  to  his  means,  for  paying 
off  the  expenses  of  these  improvements. 


CHAPTER  VII 

EXAMPLE  OF  PUBLIC  PENANCE  PRACTISED  BY  A 
CATHOLIC  IN  THE  YEAR  1831. 

It  will  not  be  unacceptable  to  the  reader  to  note  here  a 
singular  proof  of  true  contrition  given  to  the  world  at  the 
time  of  which  we  are  writing.  There  lived  on  the  Island  of 
Mackinac  in  the  service  of  a  Protestant  house,  a  man  who, 
although  of  honest  principles,  was  drawn  by  a  strong  tempta- 
tion into  giving  scandal  to  those  who  were  anxious  to  find 
proofs  of  immorality  in  Catholics  that  they  might  make 
greater  boast  of  their  own  Pharisaical  conduct.  His  offence 
having  been  made  public  by  the  act  of  civil  authority,  sev- 
eral among  the  sectarians  laughing  him  to  scorn,  said  that 
as  he  was  Catholic,  the  Priest  would  pardon  him  every- 
thing. In  January  the  offender  presented  himself  to  the 
Priest  that  through  contrition  and  the  humble  confession 
of  his  faults,  he  might  obtain  that  infinite  mercy  which  pro- 
ceeds from  the  merits  of  Christ  alone,  and  which  washes  away 
all  iniquity  in  His  Blood.  Such  were  the  tears,  such  the  tokens 
of  true  repentance  manifested  by  this  good  soul  that  the  Min- 
ister of  God  did  not  consider  it  imprudent  to  exhort  him  to  a 
public  penance  and  thus  repair  the  scandal  given.  With  all 
glad  good  will  he  accepted  the  proposal  as  a  befitting  means 
of  atonement  to  the  Divine  Majesty  insulted  and  for  the  honor 
of  His  Holy  Church. 

On  the  next  Sunday  when  the  House  of  the  Lord  was 
crowded  with  people  assisting  at  the  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  New 
Law,  the  delinquent  presented  himself  at  the  Sanctuary  rail 
where  the  Priest  explained  to  the  people  the  object  which  had 
called  him  there.  Then  he  reminded  the  penitent  of  the  evil 
consequences  of  his  error,  and  the  immense  utility  of  a  pub- 

[44] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELL1,  O.  P.    45 

lie  reparation  of  the  scandal,  adding  a  short  description  of  the 
public  penances  practised  by  the  early  Christians,  and  ordained 
by  the  canons  of  the  Church,  but  changed  as  time  went  on  into 
other  works  as  devotion  grew  colder.  He  then  directed  the 
penitent  to  remain  at  the  Church  door  during  the  celebration  of 
the  Divine  Mysteries  until  Easter  Sunday ;  and  having  placed 
around  his  neck  a  girdle  of  coarse  rope,  a  token  of  grief  and 
of  penitence,  humbly  and  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  the  penitent 
withdrew  to  take  his  place  kneeling  upon  the  steps  which  led 
to  the  door  of  the  Church.  There  exposed  to  the  view  of 
passers-by  and  to  the  cold  of  that  place  and  climate  he  heard 
Mass  devoutly  every  Sunday.  Such  conduct  deserved  that 
the  Priest  should  grant  him  the  indulgence  merited  by  true 
contrition  and  change  of  life.  On  the  first  Sunday  of  Lent 
the  penitent  was  called  from  his  lowly  post  to  the  presence  of 
him  who  well  knew  his  virtuous  submission,  and  from  the 
same  place  where  he  had  received  the  public  penance,  was  dis- 
pensed from  that  part  which  yet  remained.  Having  then  com- 
mended the  reparation  made  by  him  who  had  given  the  scandal, 
the  missionary  took  occasion  to  call  the  attention  of  the  Catho- 
lic people  to  the  fact  that  if  the  Church  at  present  dispenses 
from  the  long  penances  of  the  first  centuries,  it  is  not  because 
Divine  Justice  is  more  ready  to  pardon,  but  by  reason  of 
changed  circumstances  which,  however,  do  not  hinder  the  Di- 
vine Justice  from  being  satisfied  after  our  death.  He  added, 
besides,  that  more  worthy  of  honor  and  more  holy  were  those 
Christians  who  choose  to  manifest  their  faults  by  means  of 
public  penance  than  those  who  studiously  conceal  their  wrong- 
doings, or  reserve  the  penalty  incurred  by  them  for  that  time 
when  mercy  will  be  superseded  by  justice. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

MISSION  AT  GREEN  BAY,  CONVERSION  OF  SAV- 
AGES OF  THE  TRIBE  OF  MANOMANIS.  BAP- 
TISM, CONFIRMATION  AND  COMMUNION  OF 
THE  SAME  DURING  THE  YEAR  1831. 

The  gentle  breezes  tempered  by  the  rays  of  the  April  sun, 
harbinger  of  a  new  life  to  nature,  were  beginning  to  melt  and 
disperse  the  solid  ice,  which  in  winter  covers  the  two  Lakes 
Huron  and  Michigan  for  many  miles  in  the  strait  where  the 
commanding  Island  of  Mackinac  rises,  and  already  the  sight 
of  a  few  sails  gladdened  the  eyes  of  the  dwellers  and  held  out 
hopes  to  the  Priest  of  being  able  to  go  to  the  place  where  in  the 
autumn  he  had  sown  a  few  seeds  of  the  Divine  Word  upon  a 
soil  promising  abundant  harvest.  About  the  beginning  of  May 
he  left  his  little  flock  and  went  in  a  trading  vessel  to  Green  Bay 
in  the  territory  of  Wisconsin.  The  village  comprised  quite  a 
large  number  of  houses  scattered  here  and  there  on  both  banks 
of  the  Fox  River,  where  it  empties  into  that  tributary  of 
Lake  Michigan,  called  in  English,  Green  Bay,  from  the  color 
of  its  water.  There  was  a  tradition  among  the  old  inhabitants 
that  the  Jesuits  had  begun  a  Mission  there  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  of  which,  however,  there  were  no  traces  remaining. 
At  this  time,  the  people  were  in  number  about  a  thousand, 
mainly  of  Canadian  descent  and  intermarried  with  the  In- 
dians; left  without  Religious  instruction  for  many  years,  if 
they  had  not  given  up  their  Faith,  they  had  at  all  events  for- 
gotten all  its  works,  many  aged  persons,  even,  calling  them- 
selves Catholic,  had  not  yet  received  the  Sacrament  of  Baptism ; 
very  few  were  found  to  have  even  once  received  the  Sacra- 
ment of  the  Eucharist;  to  not  a  few  the  Sacrament  of  Matri- 
mony was  unknown.    The  vice  of  drunkenness,  with  all  its  de- 

[46] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    47 

testable  accompaniments,  reigned,  without  a  voice  lifted  to 
stay  the  ruinous  habit  of  such  long  standing. 

The  trade  carried  on  with  the  Indian  tribes  was  large,  as 
the  country  was  rich  in  animals  whose  furs  were  of  consid- 
erable profit.  The  poor  Indians  in  their  dealings  with  the 
white  man,  with  the  different  traders  who  went  there  to  ex- 
change merchandise  for  the  pelts,  had  learned  all  evil  habits, 
theft,  vengeance  and  a  consuming  desire  for  strong  drink.  In 
short  brandy  was  the  universal  article  of  exchange  which 
could  buy  anything  from  the  savages,  even  morality,  and  was 
the  cause  of  indescribable  excesses;  in  a  word  that  liquor  was 
to  them  what  money  is  among  civilized  people. 

The  reader  may  imagine  the  degradation,  intellectual,  moral 
and  physical  of  a  people,  reduced  by  such  disastrous  circum- 
stances, to  the  lowest  stage  of  ignorance  and  crime.  When  the 
loquacious  wiseacres  of  our  day,  by  way  of  displaying  their 
own  talents  and  affectation  of  virtue,  hint  at  the  uselessness  of 
the  clergy,  and  the  possibility  of  making  a  people  happy  with- 
out Religion,  they  forget  or  rather  they  choose  to  ignore  those 
facts  which  contradict  their  fantastic  notions.  The  whole 
world  is  an  unimpeachable  witness  to  the  fact  that  not  one  of 
these  pretended  friends  of  humanity,  or  as  they  are  accus- 
tomed to  style  themselves,  philanthropists,  has  ever  given  up 
comforts,  friends,  and  native  land  in  order  to  help  one  people 
buried  in  darkness  and  evil.  Religion  alone  can  lay  claim  to 
the  glory  of  breaking  the  dearest  ties  and  consecrating  her  fol- 
lowers to  the  administration  of  heavenly  consolations  and 
effectual  remedies  to  sufferers.  The  wise  one  of  this  world 
is  satisfied  with  dictating,  forming  projects,  criticising  the 
labors  of  others.  On  the  contrary,  Holy  Faith,  receiving 
from  Wisdom  Incarnate  the  means  wherewith  to  redeem  hu- 
manity and  snatch  it  safely  away  from  all  evils  present  and 
to  come,  without  wasting  the  precious  time  of  this  dark  age, 
bravely  gives  up  all  things  and  puts  its  hands  to  the  work. 

But  returning  to  the  simple  account  of  the  visit  to  Green 
Bay,  in  May  of  183 1,  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  Almighty 
God  has  not  His  own  faithful  worshippers  even  in  the  midst 


48    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

of  the  widespread  corruption.  For  the  Missionary  found  in 
this  place  not  a  few  pious  persons  in  whose  houses  he  cele- 
brated the  Holy  Sacrifice.  However,  on  account  of  the  dis- 
tances between  the  dwelling-houses,  he  was  compelled  to 
change  the  place  which  was  to  serve  as  a  Church,  in  order  to 
render  the  Divine  Service  more  easy  of  access.  Sometimes  the 
Altar  was  in  a  garret,  at  another  in  a  deserted  house,  from 
thence  it  would  be  transferred  to  a  public  hall ;  in  such  man- 
ner did  the  Presence  of  Christ  sanctify  the  places  wherein  the 
power  of  darkness  had  held  sway.  Not  a  day  passed  with- 
out some  Religious  instructions,  either  in  public  or  in  private. 
Some  individuals  were  addicted  to  drunkenness,  others  to  theft, 
to  revenge,  or  to  unlawful  business  transactions;  some  scorned 
Religion,  others  pretended  to  associate  it  with  their  vicious 
deeds;  all  had  sore  need  of  the  helps  of  that  holy  doctrine, 
which  makes  ready  the  saving  balm  for  all  mankind, — for 
every  evil  and  every  vicissitude  of  life.  Here  it  would  be 
needless  to  say  that  the  Priest  found  arguments  enough  for 
becoming  eloquent  at  the  Altar  without  having  acquired  the 
noble  science  of  oratory.  Sin  by  its  very  excesses  furnishes 
the  Christian  orator  with  most  powerful  and  irresistible 
weapons,  before  which  vice  shamed  and  confounded  must 
pronounce  its  own  condemnation  by  imploring  Divine  Mercy, 
or  at  least  overcome  by  the  power  of  virtue,  it  must  instantly 
flee  away. 

Grace  did  not  will  that  his  words  should  be  flung  to  the 
winds,  but  forestalling  them  with  its  celestial  influence, 
aroused  in  many  those  sentiments  of  sorrow  and  devotion  that 
precede  the  coming  of  Christ  into  the  soul.  Not  a  few  were  the 
Baptisms,  the  Confessions,  the  Communions,  Divine  sources 
of  spiritual  regeneration  and  of  the  interior  peace  unknown  to 
the  shallow  wisdom  of  the  world. 

The  most  visible  effects  of  Divine  Mercy  were  mani- 
fested in  the  almost  marvelous  conversions  of  very  many  of  the 
Indians.  These  poor  children  of  nature,  corrupted  by  associa- 
tion with  Europeans,  were  specially  the  objects  of  the  Priest's 
attention   and   anxious  care,   for  lie  had  devoutly  hoped  that 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    49 

grace  might  superabound  where  sin  had  once  abounded.  They 
had  often  gathered  in  great  numbers  to  listen  to  the  instructions 
imparted  through  an  able  and  devout  interpreter,  who  had 
prepared  ten  of  them  to  receive  baptism  during  the  past  winter, 
and  the  great  piety  of  their  behaviour  in  the  place  where  the 
meetings  were  held  was  a  clear  testimony  that  God  was  speak- 
ing to  their  souls ;  for  which  the  sincere  and  universal  aban- 
doning of  those  superstitious  practices  to  which  savage  tribes 
are  addicted,  convinced  the  Missionary  that  after  a  sufficient 
knowledge  of  the  principal  truths  of  Redemption,  he  might 
confer  upon  them  the  holy  Sacrament  of  Baptism.  In  fact,  it 
was  not  long  until,  assisted  by  the  interpreter,  he  implanted 
in  their  docile  minds,  the  doctrines  of  eternal  salvation  and 
knew  thoroughly  the  religious  sentiments  of  each  one  of  those 
who  desired  to  be  united  with  the  Christians.  So  before  the 
end  of  his  visit,  the  Missionary  had  the  consolation  of  bap- 
tizing twenty-three,  thus  beginning  with  the  tribe  of  the  Me- 
nominees  that  work  of  conversion  which  continued  for  some 
years. 

The  administration  of  the  Sacraments  and  the  preaching  of 
the  Word  of  Truth  are  not  the  only  duties  of  one  who  is  spread- 
ing Christ's  religion :  the  building  of  Churches  becomes  for 
him  a  work  necessary  for  the  spreading  of  the  Faith,  and  for 
fixing  firmly  in  the  people's  hearts  the  spirit  of  true  piety. 
Green  Bay  more  than  any  other  place  had  need  of  a  House  of 
God ;  therefore,  the  Priest,  after  a  suitable  site  had  been  se- 
lected, held  a  consultation  with  the  people  and  with  earnest 
words  incited  them  to  the  holy  enterprise.  Then  visiting 
the  people  personally  in  their  widely  scattered  homes,  ac- 
cording to  each  one's  circumstances,  he  allotted  the  kind 
and  the  quantity  of  the  material  which  he  ought  to  contribute 
for  the  erection  of  a  frame  church  of  which  we  shall  speak 
later  on. 

The  venerable  and  humble  bishop,  Right  Reverend  Edward 
Fenwick,  O.  P.,  arrived  at  Mackinac  about  the  beginning  of 
July,  accompanied  by  Rev.  F.  Baraga,  destined  for  the  missions 
among  the  Indian  tribes  in  the  northern  part  of  the  state  of 


50    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

Michigan.  Having  heard  of  the  successes  in  the  West  he  set 
out  without  delay  in  order  to  assist  in  the  labor  of  conver- 
sions. Obtaining  the  use  of  a  large  room  for  a  few  days, 
spiritual  exercises  were  begun  for  the  French  inhabitants  of 
Green  Bay.  It  is  not  easy  to  describe  the  earnestness  and  zeal 
with  which  the  Bishop  and  his  Priest  strove  with  the  help  of 
God  to  bring  about  the  desired  improvement.  A  proof  of  this 
is  the  indefatigable  application  which  kept  both  for  a  week  in 
the  confessional;  the  day  was  not  long  enough:  it  was  found 
necessary  to  supply  by  working  a  good  part  of  the  night.  Al- 
most all  of  the  confessions  covered  a  space  of  many  years, 
ten,  twenty,  or  thirty  years.  The  holy  Feast  of  Pentecost 
saw  many  approach  the  most  Holy  Sacrament  who  had  almost 
forgotten  It:  more  than  forty  Indians  were  regenerated  in 
the  waters  of  holy  Baptism.  The  seven-fold  grace  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  by  the  imposition  of  the  Bishop's  hand  in  the 
Sacrament  of  Confirmation,  descended  upon  many,  among 
whom  were  numbered  not  a  few  of  the  poor  Indians. 

The  labor  corresponded  to  these  Apostolic  efforts  and  the 
diffusion  of  Heaven's  graces.  According  as  the  number  of 
open  sins  diminished,  scandals  became  less  common,  and  the 
service  of  God  more  vigorous.  While  being  made  Christians 
the  Indians  were  made  new  men,  both  in  their  exterior  appear- 
ance and  in  their  moral  conduct,  so  that  even  in  the  public 
streets  anyone  could  distinguish  at  a  glance  the  Christian  from 
the  Pagan  savage. 

In  the  autumn  of  that  year  he  spent  almost  two  months  in 
that  same  place  where  the  harvest  had  been  so  abundant,  and 
he  continued  to  instruct  and  baptize  others  of  the  Menominee 
tribe,  many  of  whom  received  Holy  Communion.  The  sublime 
doctrine  of  this  most  august  Mystery  is  understood  and  firmly 
believed  by  these  Indians  with  that  humble  submission  which 
the  Word  Divine  taught  us  by  Faith,  merits.  Let  not  the 
reader  imagine  that  the  intelligence  of  an  American  Indian 
is  less  susceptible  perhaps  than  his  own  to  the  comprehension 
of  the  truths  of  our  holy  Religion.  Such  a  supposition  would 
be  extremely  erroneous  and  would  incline  to  the  absurdity  of 
believing  the  Indian  incapable  of  becoming  a  perfect  Chris- 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    51 

tian  who  lives  by  Faith.  Christ's  doctrine  is  intelligible  to  all 
mankind  to  some  degree,  and  therein  differs  from  human 
teachings.  If  this  were  not  true,  how  could  the  Messiah  com- 
mand His  Apostles  to  teach  all  nations,  if  those  very  nations 
were  incapable  of  understanding  all  the  truths  of  Religion ! 
Besides,  the  mysteries  of  Religion  are  founded  on  Faith  which 
is  a  gift  of  God,  and  the  wisest  of  mankind  cannot  take  credit 
to  himself  of  believing  more  than  the  simple  and  unlettered 
Christian.  The  Sciences  and  Arts  of  the  world  can  be  ac- 
quired only  through  the  help  of  certain  preliminary  studies 
which  for  various  reasons  are  not  within  the  reach  of  every 
human  intelligence,  while  the  sublime  science  of  salvation  can 
neither  be  taught  nor  learned  by  the  human  intelligence,  for  it 
is  all  divine.  God  alone  teaches  it  to  the  soul  and  He  alone 
disposes  the  soul  to  learn  it.  Many,  learned  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  in  history,  both  sacred  and  profane,  and  in  all  the 
paths  of  human  knowledge,  are  they  not  unlearned  in  the 
science  of  salvation  which  was  revealed  to  the  simplest  of 
savages  and  understood  by  them?  The  Son  of  Man  was 
discoursing  on  this  truth  when  He  said :  "I  confess  to  Thee, 
O  Father,  Lord  of  Heaven  and  earth,  because  Thou  hast  hid 
these  things  from  the  wise  and  prudent  and  hast  revealed 
them  to  little  ones.  Yea,  Father,  for  so  hath  it  seemed  good 
in  Thy  sight."     (Matt.  XI,  25,  26.) 

To  consolidate  the  holy  works  begun  among  the  Menomi- 
nees,  it  was  found  necessary  to  establish  a  school  for  the  re- 
ligious instruction  of  those  who  were  already  members  of  the 
holy  Church,  and  in  this  way  to  facilitate  the  conversion  of 
the  pagans  who  induced  by  the  example  which  they  had  be- 
fore their  eyes,  were  anxious  to  become  acquainted  with  the 
Truth.  A  zealous  and  prudent  person  had  charge  of  this, 
who,  mistress  of  the  Menominee  language,  and  familiar  with 
both  English  and  French,  rendered  a  very  great  service  to 
Religion  by  calling  many  to  the  unity  of  the  Faith.  The 
United  States  Government  subsequently  made  a  small  appro- 
priation in  money  for  the  maintenance  of  this  school,  re- 
quiring its  superintendent  to  render  a  yearly  report  to  the 
Secretary  of  Indian  Affairs  at  Washington. 


CHAPTER  IX 

PHYSICAL  AND  MORAL  CONDITIONS  OF  THE 
INDIAN  TRIBES  OCCUPYING  THE  TERRI- 
TORIES OF  MICHIGAN,  WISCONSIN  AND 
IOWA. 

The  variety  of  customs,  forms  of  government,  modes  of 
living  and  characters  of  the  various  civilized  nations  of  the 
world,  may  serve  to  give  an  idea  of  that  variety  which  exists 
among  the  different  Indian  tribes.  In  the  lives  and  condi- 
tions of  these,  there  are  some  circumstances  common  to  them 
all,  as  the  lack  of  the  sciences,  of  the  arts,  of  education,  of 
social  order,  of  conveniences,  of  luxury,  of  riches,  and  of 
everything  else  that  can  distinguish  a  cultured  from  a  savage 
people.  Besides  the  privations  common  to  all  the  tribes,  there 
are  other  notable  differences  among  them  arising  from  the 
nature  of  the  country  or  from  other  particular  circumstances. 
In  the  southern  regions  where  winter  is  unknown,  the  Indian 
goes  almost  naked,  while  the  native  of  the  north  finds  in  the 
abundance  of  furs  of  the  wild  animals  a  suitable  covering  to 
defend  him  from  the  rigors  of  the  long,  cold  season.  The  fer- 
tility of  the  soil,  with  its  spontaneous  products  readily  sup- 
plies all  the  needs  of  the  southern  native, — the  northern  na- 
tive finds  his  support  in  hunting  and  fishing.  There  are  some 
tribes,  warlike  and  vindictive,  who  are  seldom  at  peace  with 
their  neighbors,  while  others  of  milder  character  are  slow  to 
commit  murder.  There  is  no  little  difference  between  the 
character  of  an  Indian  who  holds  communication  with  settlers 
of  European  origin,  and  the  haughty,  independent  savage 
utterly  isolated  in  his  wilderness,  forest  or  mountain  fastness 
who  cares  naught  to  behold  a  white  man,  and  despises  his  in- 
ventions as  useless  things.     Religion  with  its  heavenly  power 

[52] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    53 

produces  such  a  change  in  both  the  moral  and  physical  condi- 
tion of  the  Indian  that  he  may  be  considered  as  transformed 
into  a  new  reasonable  being.  All  the  mysteries  of  Faith  and 
the  sublime  teachings  of  our  Saviour  seem  to  shine  forth  in 
full  splendor  in  those  souls  not  yet  tainted  with  the  pride  of 
human  wisdom,  which  without  Religion  has  never  succeeded 
in  ameliorating  the  intellectual  condition  of  savage  tribes.  For 
these  and  many  other  reasons  the  customs  and  modes  of  life 
of  the  various  native  inhabitants  of  America  differ  in  many 
respects ;  and  whereas  in  these  Memoirs  mention  is  made  only 
of  certain  tribes  bordering  upon  white  settlements  of  the 
United  States,  we  shall  merely  take  some  note  of  their  pe- 
culiar character. 

The  trading  which  naturally  was  introduced  by  European 
speculators  is  done  by  barter ;  the  Indians  sell  the  furs  of 
different  animals  of  the  region,  and  receive  in  exchange  guns, 
powder  and  shot,  blankets,  cloth  of  various  kinds,  knives, 
scissors,  rings,  ear-rings,  handkerchiefs,  shirts  of  bright  col- 
ored calico,  looking  glasses,  paint  for  the  face,  silver  orna- 
ments and  very  many  others.  Sometimes  they  take  in  ex- 
change provisions,  but  more  often  brandy,  which  might  well  be 
called  the  bane  of  the  tribes.  Europeans  must  not  take  it  for 
granted  that  commerce  is  a  means  of  civilizing  the  Indians, 
because,  in  the  first  place  it  is  for  the  most  part  carried  on  by 
persons  who  aim  at  making  a  profit  enormously  out  of  propor- 
tion to  the  value  of  the  goods;  that  is,  a  gain  of  fifty  or  a 
hundred  per  cent:  moreover  the  association  with  traders  only 
serves  to  introduce  among  the  red  men  the  vices  without 
teaching  them  the  virtues  of  civilized  nations.  The  tribes  of 
Michigan,  Wisconsin  and  Iowa  are  far  more  demoralized  than 
those  who  inhabit  the  vast  territory  of  Missouri  and  Oregon, 
This  is  further  proved  by  the  fact  that  all  the  tribes  who  have 
been  for  years  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  settled  portions  of 
the  States  are  diminished  in  number,  and  are  now  either  nearly 
extinct  or  in  various  respects  inferior  to  those  distant  tribes 
who  still  preserve  their  independence  and  a  more  thorough 
submission  to  their  own  chiefs. 


54    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

The  climate  of  these  north-western  regions  obliges  the 
Indians  to  be  fully  clad  during  six  or  seven  months.  In 
summer,  however,  the  men  usually  go  half  clad,  but  not  the 
women.  Ornaments  are  not  as  much  in  vogue  among  these 
northern  tribes  as  in  the  south,  and  these  consist  principally 
of  ear-rings,  rings,  little  silver  plates  about  three  inches  in 
diameter,  chiefly  for  women's  use, — the  men  often  deck  their 
heads  with  feathers.  They  paint  their  faces  with  red,  white, 
yellow  or  black  *  the  last  on  occasions  of  mourning,  for  in- 
stance the  death  of  one  dear,  for  the  manifestation  of  special 
grief. 

By  reason  of  this  mode  of  trading  and  of  the  money  re- 
ceived annually  from  the  government  by  all  the  tribes  near 
the  Northern  Mississippi,  for  the  lands  ceded  by  them,  agri- 
culture is  almost  entirely  neglected.  A  few  plant  corn  and 
raise  potatoes  in  summer.  With  the  money  and  the  furs  are 
bought  not  only  clothing  but  also  provisions,  corn,  flour  and 
salt  meats ;  but  these  serve  only  to  satisfy  their  needs  for  a 
few  days  at  different  times  in  the  course  of  each  year.  Their 
wandering  life  hardly  permits  families  to  cultivate,  however 
poorly,  even  a  little  piece  of  ground,  and  this  not  protected  by 
fences,  is  constantly  exposed  to  the  ravages  of  wild  animals, 
so  that  the  people  are  compelled  to  live  by  hunting  and  fish- 
ing the  greater  part  of  the  year.  The  use  of  the  gun  for 
shooting  the  deer,  the  bear  and  other  game,  with  the  use  of 
iron  traps  also,  is  more  serviceable  in  securing  a  subsistence 
for  these  people  than  the  bows  and  arrows  yet  in  use  among 
the  more  distant  tribes.  On  account  of  bad  weather  in  some 
seasons,  it  is  often  impossible  for  days  to  go  on  the  hunt ; 
then  the  most  improvident  or  lazy  suffer  hunger,  in  the  winter 
especially,  when  the  snowfall  is  heaviest;  yet  Providence 
preserves  life  in  them,  some  way. 

A  people  destitute  of  the  ties  most  needful  for  forming 
society  has  no  permanent  or  regular  abiding-place ;  the  sav- 
ages have  villages  of  a  hundred  or  two  hundred  families 
which  remain  in  one  place  a  few  months,  that  is,  in  summer. 
Their  dwellings  are  huts  or  lodges  roughly  constructed  of  the 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    55 

bark  of  trees,  which  they  call  their  summer  houses ;  in  winter 
they  live  in  small  huts  made  of  mats.  There  is  a  great  ad- 
vantage in  the  second  class  of  dwellings,  for  they  are  easily 
raised  and  as  easily  taken  to  pieces ;  the  women  are  usually  the 
only  workers  here,  not  only  making  the  mats,  raising  the 
lodges,  but  also  removing  them  and  carrying  them  on  their 
backs  when  they  change  localities. 

Each  tribe  has  its  own  chief,  who  is  neither  wealthier  nor 
more  regarded  than  the  others  except  in  case  of  warfare, 
emigration,  sale  of  lands  to  the  Government,  or  some  serious 
trouble  in  the  tribe  with  neighbors,  when  these  chiefs  possess 
absolute  power  of  legislation.  Hence  it  is  that  the  treaties 
through  which  the  Government  has  come  into  possession  of 
the  land  once  owned  by  the  Indians,  were  made  only  with  the 
common  consent  of  their  chiefs. 

In  war  the  savage  is  absolutely  cruel,  without  regard  to 
any  military  discipline;  he  employs  any  and  every  means 
whatsoever  to  destroy  the  enemy ;  hidden  in  the  grass  or  be- 
hind a  tree  or  in  the  darkness  of  night,  he  takes  his  foe  by 
surprise  and  murders  him.  Vengeance  and  vainglory  often 
urge  him  to  eat  the  yet  warm  heart  of  an  enemy  or  to  put  him 
to  death  by  various  modes  of  torture.  The  warriors  keep  as 
trophies  the  hair  of  the  conquered  which  with  one  blow  they 
cut  and  tear  from  the  head  with  scalp  all  living  and  agonizing. 
What  makes  their  warfare  yet  more  horrible  is  the  use  of 
hatchets,  the  favorite  weapons  when  two  tribes  are  at  war 
against  each  other.  These,  almost  naked,  painted  black, 
glaring  ferociously,  uttering  dreadful  yells,  spring  at  each 
other  like  famished  tigers  and  lions,  and  with  their  hatchets, 
gash,  lacerate,  and  destroy  each  other:  few  of  the  combatants 
survive  the  slaughter  which  might  better  be  called  the  human 
shambles,  and  very  few  are  they  who  have  not  received  a 
mortal  blow.  The  captives  are  put  to  death  by  the  victors  or 
ransomed  at  a  great  price  by  their  own  people.  Experience 
has  taught  the  tribes  not  to  make  war  upon  the  United  States 
citizens,  and  the  Government  takes  all  possible  means  to  pre- 
vent like  catastrophes  among  themselves. 


56    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

Marriages  are  arranged  by  the  parents  or  relatives  of  the 
girl,  and  they  lead  her  to  the  wigwam  of  the  young  man,  who 
presents  her  with  some  gifts.  Those  Indians  who  are  con- 
sidered able  to  provide  for  more  than  one  wife,  may  take 
two  or  three;  and  these  are  often  sisters,  "for  the  sake  of 
keeping  peace  in  the  home,"  as  one  Indian  told  the  Missionary. 
Parents  are  very  fond  of  their  children,  the  number  of  whom 
seems  to  confer  importance  upon  the  family.  From  their 
tenderest  infancy  they  are  the  objects  of  the  mother's  most 
tender  care,  for  they  are  the  dearest  of  all  things  to  the  par- 
ents, who  are  ready  to  make  any  sacrifice  in  their  behalf.  In 
the  lodges  where  there  are  many  children,  one  rarely  hears 
them  crying  aloud,  and  this  is  never  prolonged  beyond  two  or 
three  minutes.  Old  age  is  always  treated  with  respect  and 
cared  for  in  all  its  needs,  by  the  numerous  relatives,  who  never 
forget  this  duty ;  in  this  respect  they  might  well  serve  as  an 
example  to  many  of  our  own  race. 

This  tribe  is  remarkable  for  hospitality ;  any  stranger  what- 
ever finds  among  them  a  kind  reception  and  an  edifying  gen- 
erosity, for  if  they  have  any  food  that  is  needful  to  him, 
they  offer  it  with  cordiality,  and  if  he  needs  a  place  of  refuge 
they  assign  to  him  a  corner  of  their  own  poor  dwelling.  In 
time  of  peace  there  is  not  the  slightest  danger  of  being  mo- 
lested by  these  simple  children  of  nature.  In  character  there 
is  much  to  give  them  the  right  to  reproach  civilized  nations, — 
among  whom  mine  and  thine  is  carried  to  such  a  degree  as  to 
create  the  necessity  of  too  many  laws,  and  transform  the 
noblest  sentiments  of  fraternal  love  into  humiliating  egotism. 

As  regards  Religion,  the  Indian  of  the  northern  Mississippi 
could  not  be  considered  absolutely  idolatrous,  but  rather  su- 
perstitious. He  has  a  general  idea  of  God,  whom  he  calls 
The  Great  Spirit,  "II  Grande  Spirito,"  for  such  He  is  in  His 
works  and  His  power.  He  worships  this  Spirit  with  prayer 
and  with  sacrifices  also,  to  obtain  assistance  in  the  various 
wants  of  life  over  which  He  is  believed  to  have  absolute  con- 
trol. The  Indians  believe  also  in  the  existence  of  the  evil 
spirit,  to  whom  they  attribute  power  to  harm,  and  on  this  ac- 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    57 

count  have  recourse  to  him  with  prayers  and  offerings  as 
propitiation  in  great  calamities.  In  case  of  diseases,  war,  mo- 
tives of  vengeance,  strong  affections  unreciprocated,  they  put 
in  operation  various  superstitious  rites  well  known  and  prac- 
tised by  these  savages  who  by  reason  of  this  knowledge  of 
theirs  are  called  by  the  Canadians  Medicine  Men.  This  Medi- 
cine Man  is  supposed  to  possess  superior  power,  exercised  by 
means  of  certain  objects  of  potent  charm,  generally  confined 
to  such  as  a  snake-skin,  a  bird's  beak,  a  tortoise  shell,  a  night- 
bird's  or  an  owl's  head,  a  root,  a  piece  of  carved  wood,  and 
many  other  things.  The  sacrifices  are  performed  by  boiling 
the  flesh  of  some  animals  or  the  first  ripe  ears  of  corn,  the 
people  meanwhile  dancing  around  the  kettle  and  chanting 
during  the  whole  time  it  is  over  the  fire:  after  which  they 
make  an  offering  of  part  of  the  contents  to  the  good  or  the 
bad  spirit,  and  then  throw  this  back  into  the  kettle.  During 
all  this  the  Medicine  Man  is  repeating  certain  strange  mean- 
ingless words  as  an  invocation  to  the  spirit. 

The  principles  of  the  natural  law  are  sufficiently  under- 
stood by  that  tribe  to  make  them  accountable  to  their  own 
conscience  when  they  commit  faults,  for  they  themselves 
condemn  theft,  homicide,  immorality  of  any  kind,  lying,  re- 
venge, etc.  The  deprivation  of  the  light  of  the  Gospel  leaves 
them  in  that  spiritual  darkness,  which  is  the  cause  of  their 
imperfect  idea  of  the  Divinity,  and  of  the  means  of  atoning 
for  their  sins,  and  throws  them  into  that  jumble  of  supersti- 
tious practices  which  constitute  their  religious  system. 

Those  among  them  who  by  Divine  appointment  have  been 
converted  to  Catholicity,  retain  their  own  peculiar  customs, 
innocent  in  themselves  in  which  they  were  trained,  while  at 
the  same  time  rejecting  every  practice  whatever  not  conform- 
able to  the  truth  and  sanctity  of  Christian  Faith,  that  Faith 
which  alone  renders  them  able  to  improve  and  civilize  them- 
selves. The  Christians  in  general  wear  a  rosary  or  a  cross 
around  the  neck,  which  serves  to  distinguish  them  from  the 
pagans.    They  are  well  disposed  by  nature  to  become  follow- 


58    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

ers  of  Jesus  Christ;  the  greatest  hindrances  to  their  conver- 
sion arise  from  their  dealings  with  traders,  from  whom  they 
usually  get  those  bad  examples  that  repel  rather  than  win 
them  over  to  the  holy  Catholic  Faith. 


CHAPTER  X 

DESCRIPTION    OF    THE    WOODEN    CHURCH 
ERECTED  AT  GREEN  BAY  IN  1831. 

Because  in  October,  1831,  after  many  journeys  to  and  fro, 
many  fatigues,  anxieties  and  expenses,  we  had  the  consolation 
of  seeing  Saint  John  the  Evangelist's  Church  raised  as  far  as 
the  roof,  it  will  be  a  satisfaction  to  the  reader  to  know  what 
kind  of  a  church  it  was,  that  could  be  built  entirely  of  wood. 
We  will  give  a  brief  description  of  this  structure,  for  similar 
ones  are  very  common  in  America  and  these  Memoirs  con- 
tain accounts  of  different  styles  of  wooden  churches. 

Where  the  population  is  scattered  and  settled  only  a  few 
years  in  a  country,  new,  covered  with  forests,  they  do  not 
build  houses  to  last  a  life-time,  far  less  is  there  thought  of 
building  for  posterity;  money  has  little  opportunity  for  ex- 
change, because  of  the  distance  from  trade;  workmen  are  to 
be  found  only  with  difficulty;  the  restrictions  and  simplicity 
of  life  lessen  the  wants  of  the  people,  their  impatience  to  have 
a  dwelling,  the  abundance  of  wood,  the  facility  of  working  it, 
the  difficulty  of  hauling  stone,  or  making  brick,  are  the  main 
causes  for  so  many  wooden  houses  seen  in  all  the  new  portions 
of  the  Western  States  of  the  great  American  Republic.  There 
are  two  modes  of  building  in  wood.  One  is  called  in  America, 
the  Log  House,  that  is  Casa  di  Travl,  which  is  the  more  rustic, 
and  usually  that  of  the  poorer  people ;  the  other  is  rather  fine 
and  is  called  Frame  House,  or  Casa  d'ossatura  di  Train. 

To  form  an  idea  of  the  Church  of  Green  Bay  imagine  a 
foundation  of  rock  sunk  into  the  ground  a  little,  and  rising 
from  it  about  three  English  feet,  with  a  length  of  eighty  and 
a  breadth  of  thirty-eight  feet.  Upon  this  wall  are  laid  oaken 
beams,  a  foot  and  a  quarter  square,  and  from  thirty  to  forty 

[591 


60    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

feet  long,  very  strongly  joined  together;  into  these  beams 
others  of  lighter  weight  are  fitted,  mortised  and  fastened  with 
nails  here  and  there;  these  last  rise  to  the  height  of  twenty 
feet,  meeting  another  frame  of  long,  well  finished  beams. 
In  the  joists  as  in  the  upper  beams  are  made  fast  the  timbers 
for  the  flooring  and  for  the  ceiling,  all  put  together  with  skill 
and  proportion  by  the  well-trained  American  carpenters.  At 
first  sight  what  they  call  the  frame  of  the  house  looks  like  a 
cage.  This  is  then  overlaid  on  the  outside  with  planks  about 
six  English  inches  wide  and  half  an  inch  thick,  nailed  length- 
wise to  all  the  upright  beams ;  the  upper  edge  of  each  plank 
is  overlapped  by  the  lower  edge  of  the  one  above  it,  and  so 
on  to  the  top.  The  walls  of  the  church  building  are  thus 
formed  to  protect  the  interior  from  the  weather.  The  roof  is 
also  of  wood  covered  with  shingles  as  in  several  places  in  the 
Tyrol.  Above  the  centre  of  the  structure  is  a  bell-tower,  of 
the  same  shape,  and  connected  with  the  walls  from  which 
it  rises  to  a  moderate  height,  so  as  to  withstand  the  storms. 
As  in  nearly  all  American  Churches,  above  the  inner  door  is 
a  gallery  or  tribune,  to  accommodate  a  number  of  the  people. 
The  finishing  of  the  inner  walls  is  made  after  the  manner  of 
the  plafoni  of  our  buildings,  that  is,  with  laths,  about  an  inch 
broad,  by  which  the  plaster  is  held  firm.  The  building  is 
painted  with  oil  paint  to  preserve  it,  and  this  also  serves  to 
embellish  it.  A  church  of  this  kind  when  well  built,  of  good 
timber;  and  protected  from  the  weather,  may  last  for  cen- 
turies: but  neglect  of  little  repairs  often  reduces  many  of 
these  wooden  structures  to  ruin  before  their  time.  Gen- 
uine elegance  and  the  following  of  the  various  orders  of 
Architecture  are  readily  adapted  to  these  buildings,  and, 
furthermore,  outlay  of  wealth  and  elegance  are  not  un- 
known among  many  of  those  families,  whose  houses  are  built 
spacious,  of  several  stories,  and  embellished  with  porticoes  and 
lofty  pillars.  American  carpenters  are  very  skilful  in  con- 
structing these  buildings. 

To  close  with  our  church  of  Saint  John  we  will  state  that 
it  was  not  completed  before  the  end  of  1832,  and  some  time 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    61 

after  that  was  provided  with  everything  needful  for  the  Lord's 
House.  The  expense  of  building  was  a  little  less  than  twenty 
thousand  francs.  But  what  was  that  sum  compared  to  making 
so  important  a  step  towards  the  moral  and  intellectual  regen- 
eration of  a  newly-formed  society  ?  The  people  assisted,  some 
furnishing  almost  all  the  material,  others  money,  the  poor, 
any  work  that  they  were  able  to  furnish.  The  church  remained, 
however,  with  a  debt  which  was  paid  by  the  tardy  contribu- 
tions of  two  years.  The  Society  of  the  Propaganda  likewise 
through  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  Fenwick  made  a  generous  offering, 
which,  in  truth,  was  almost  entirely  expended  in  traveling  and 
similar  needs. 

Almost  all  the  churches  of  which  we  shall  make  mention 
in  time,  found  benefactors  in  this  way,  incited  by  the  diligent 
persistence  of  him  who  was  striving  to  carry  on  the  duties  of 
a  disinterested  missionary.  Experience  has  taught  this  lesson, 
that  unless  he  sacrifices  everything,  sometimes  depriving  him- 
self of  what  might  be  considered  necessaries,  he  will  find  it 
impossible  to  secure  the  desired  result. 


CHAPTER  XI 

FIRST  VISIT  TO  THE  VILLAGE  OF  SAINT  MARY'S 
UPON  THE  RIVER  OF  THE  SAME  NAME  IN  1831. 

In  a  country  situated  to  the  north,  and  almost  surrounded 
by  water,  thus  making  the  summer  season  the  safest  and  most 
convenient  for  traveling,  the  Priest  thought  best  to  take  advan- 
tage of  this,  to  visit  another  gathering  of  his  heterogeneous 
and  numerous  flock,  which  was  scattered  over  a  vast  extent 
of  country.  In  the  middle  of  August  he  left  Mackinac,  his 
principal  abode,  in  a  fragile  canoe  made  of  bark,  which  was 
to  convey  him  to  a  village  then  called  Sault  Sainte  Marie. 
The  distance  is  about  ninety  miles  by  water,  for  half  of  which 
one  coasts  along  the  northern  shore  of  the  great  Lake  Huron, 
and  for  the  rest,  sails  along  the  majestic  river  of  Saint 
Mary's.  The  Indians  served  as  rowers  and  after  passing  the 
night  upon  the  bank  near  the  mouth  of  the  river,  the  Priest 
arrived  safe  at  his  destination  on  the  evening  of  the  second 
day.  Consider  that  during  that  voyage  not  the  slightest  trace 
of  human  life  was  to  be  seen ;  the  shores  of  the  Lake  and 
River  were  covered  with  the  densest  of  forests  where  Nature 
showed  herself  solemn  and  mysterious  in  her  eloquent  silence. 
The  village  is  situated  at  the  foot  of  a  tumultuous  rushing 
down  of  the  river,  caused  by  a  considerable  slope  of  its  uneven 
bed  for  more  than  a  mile.  Beautiful  is  the  sight  of  the  white 
foaming  flood  forced  to  struggle  against  the  obstinate  opposi- 
tion of  many  enormous  rocks  strewn  from  one  shore  to  the 
other  along  the  whole  course  of  the  rapids  and  seemingly 
determined  to  stay  the  heavy,  irresistible  onrush  of  waters. 
These  rush  down  from  Lake  Superior,  so  called  from  its  vast 
extent,  which  spreads  more  than  four  hundred  miles  towards 

[62] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    63 

the  west,  and  contains  in  its  clear  depths  a  prodigious  number 
of  excellent  fish. 

The  people  who  occupy  the  eastern  bank  of  the  river  are 
situated  in  Canada,  under  the  English  government,  and  those 
who  live  on  the  opposite  shore  are  citizens  of  the  Republic. 
Their  condition,  both  moral  and  intellectual,  was  in  a  very 
bad  state,  and  it  would  not  be  exaggeration  to  say  that  they 
loved  Religion  without  knowing  it;  with  the  exception  of  the 
youth,  the  settlers  had  been  sent  there  from  the  thickly  settled 
portions  of  Canada  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  on  the  trade 
with  the  Indians.  For  many  years  deprived  of  Religious 
instruction  and  exposed  to  numberless  occasions  of  sin,  they 
were  living  almost  without  God.  As  the  Missionary  had  but  a 
few  days  to  spend  there,  he  devoted  himself  to  calling  them 
around  him  under  the  shade  of  a  mighty  oak  and  preaching 
the  principal  truths  of  Faith.  They  listened  to  him  often  with 
great  satisfaction,  seated  upon  the  grass,  near  the  headlong 
rushing  waters  of  the  river, — a  figure  of  the  swift  passing  of 
man's  life.  A  few  confessions,  many  children  baptized,  and  a 
few  marriages  solemnized,  were  the  scanty  fruit  of  this  first 
visit,  which  left  behind  it  the  hope  of  a  more  abundant  return 
when  grace  should  have  fructified  the  scattered  seed  of  the 
Divine  Word.  As  a  courtesy,  and  on  account  of  a  certain 
idea  of  honor  due  the  clerical  state,  he  accepted  the  kind  invi- 
tation to  supper  with  the  Commandant  of  the  American  fort 
which  was  stationed  at  Sault  Sainte  Marie  as  a  protection 
from  Indian  uprisings.  The  military  courtesy  of  the  gentle- 
man (although  not  Catholic)  had  allowed  the  Missionary  to 
preach  in  his  apartment  to  the  officers  and  their  families,  of 
whom  but  one  was  Catholic.  A  circumstance  of  this  kind 
deserves  to  be  put  on  record  as  a  testimony  to  that  docile  spirit 
and  sincere  inclination  towards  the  knowledge  of  the  Truth 
which  ordinarily  precedes  the  conversion  to  the  Faith  of  many 
unbelievers. 


CHAPTER  XII 

NOTES  ON  THE  MISSION  OF  THE  REVEREND  F. 
BARAGA  AT  ARBRE-CROCHE  AMONG  THE 
INDIANS  OF  THE  OTTAWA  TRIBE. 

The  brief  and  cool  summer  of  these  regions  had  passed 
and  the  Missionary  had  retired  to  his  little  house  just  erected 
near  the  Church  of  Mackinac,  when  he  interrupted  his  ordi- 
nary duties  towards  his  flock  in  order  to  revive  his  own  devo- 
tion during  a  visit  made  to  the  Reverend  F.  Baraga.  This 
pious  and  learned  Priest  exercised  his  holy  ministry  among 
the  Indians  of  the  Ottawa  tribe  at  one  of  their  villages  called 
Arbre-Croche,  situated  on  an  inlet  of  Lake  Michigan  in  the 
extreme  northern  part  of  the  State  of  the  same  name.  There 
still  exists  at  Mackinac  an  ancient  Baptismal  Record  of  1696 
in  which  are  inscribed  the  names  of  the  First  Franciscan  Mis- 
sionaries who  traversed  this  country,  and  worthy  of  remem- 
brance is  the  record  of  the  Baptism  of  a  slave  in  the  College 
of  the  Jesuits  at  Arbre-Croche.  This  place  is  not  now  that 
of  Father  Baraga's  residence,  but  is  twenty-five  miles  farther 
to  the  east  upon  a  lofty  shore  of  the  Lake ;  there  may  yet  be 
seen  on  the  surface  of  the  soil,  the  regular  marks  of  the  plough- 
share where  the  trees  are  noticeably  smaller  than  those  sur- 
rounding the  once  cultivated  space.  According  to  traditions 
among  the  Indians  the  Fathers  of  this  renowned  Order  were 
established  more  than  a  hundred  years  ago  at  Old  Arbre- 
Croche  where  they  unweariedly  shed  around  those  rays  of  the 
holy  Faith  which  notwithstanding  long  absence,  is  not  entirely 
lost,  but  lives  again  and  buds  and  blossoms  even  to  our  times, 
yielding  fruit  to  life  eternal.  The  Ottawas  had  received  a 
visit  from  a  Priest  in  1829;  then  many  of  them  embraced 
the  Religion  once  professed  by  their  fathers.     In  1831  when 

[64] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    65 

the  Reverend  F.  Baraga  was  appointed  to  spread  the  truths 
of  the  Gospel  among  them,  the  Faith  revived  and  with  it  the 
practice  of  all  Christian  virtues ;  and  in  a  few  years  the  numer- 
ous and  frequent  conversions  made  of  that  tribe  a  chosen 
people,  with  the  fervor  of  the  primitive  Christians. 

At  the  end  of  January,  1832,  nature  in  her  wondrous  power 
had,  as  if  at  one  stroke,  hardened  the  surface  of  the  waters 
which  separate  the  Island  from  the  places  where  once  the  good 
Jesuits  were  the  benefactors  of  the  Ottawas.  A  solid  mag- 
nificent bridge  thus  built  over  the  water,  prepared  a  dry,  smooth 
road  for  our  Missionary,  who  was  traveling  accompanied  by 
a  few  Indians,  towards  his  brother  in  the  holy  ministry.  Tired 
after  a  whole  day's  journey  upon  ice,  a  frugal  repast  refreshed 
him  at  evening;  the  Indians  sang  a  few  hymns  in  their  own 
language,  then  the  hard  couch  of  bark  received  them  until 
morning.  He  reached  Arbre-Croche  the  following  day,  after  a 
wretched  journey,  partly  on  foot,  and  partly  on  horseback,  the 
animal  yet  unbroken,  that  as  proof  of  his  spirit  of  independ- 
ence tried  to  throw  him  before  night. 

There  are  few  who  can  form  a  just  idea  of  the  emotions 
of  two  Priests  who  after  months  of  such  solitude  have  the 
consolation  of  meeting  one  another.  The  sacrament  of  Pen- 
ance as  the  primary  object  of  their  meeting  and  of  their  soul's 
progress,  naturally  forms  the  first  care  of  both.  Oh  how 
sublime,  how  beautiful,  is  the  Religion  of  Christ !  She  hum- 
bles her  child  at  the  feet  of  one  like  himself,  who,  after  sitting 
as  judge  supreme  upon  the  throne  of  Divine  Mercy  and  pro- 
nouncing over  the  penitent's  soul  the  sentence  from  Heaven, 
comes  down  at  once  from  that  high  station,  yielding  it  to 
him,  who  contrite,  just  asked  pardon ;  and  thus  forgetting 
what  took  place  a  moment  before,  begins  with  accents  of  grief 
to  take  the  attitude  of  a  criminal  and  confesses  his  own  faults 
before  a  representative  of  Christ.  Who  could  ever  imagine 
an  act  more  fitted  to  make  atonement  to  Divine  Justice? 
Where  can  be  found  in  the  annals  of  history  a  more  efficacious 
means  for  humbling  man  in  his  faults  and  rendering  him  a 
partaker  of  the  bounty  of  the  Heart  of  God  Himself,  leading 


66    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

him  to  judge  one  by  whom  he  himself  must  be  judged? 
Behold  how  mildness,  patience,  compassion,  true  charity  for 
the  neighbor  and  the  just  knowledge  of  one's  own  weakness 
and  his  neighbor's,  are  learned  in  the  school  of  that  Sacrament, 
which  if  they  were  but  practised  holily,  would  bring  perfect 
happiness  to  society,  to  the  family,  to  each  and  all  men. 

The  mission  at  Arbre-Croche  had  several  stations  with  a 
few  tiny  church  buildings ;  the  largest  of  these  was  in  the  vil- 
lage where  the  Reverend  Father  Baraga  was  established.  It 
must  be  noted  that  in  this  region  there  were  no  oxen  nor 
draught-horses  nor  any  roads  by  which  building  materials  could 
be  transported  thither ;  so  when  the  Indians  set  about  building 
the  church,  after  preparing  the  beams  fifty  feet  in  length,  in 
the  woods,  they  were  obliged  to  move  them  by  main  strength, 
thirty  or  forty  joined  together  for  this  purpose.  A  Canadian 
carpenter  with  the  help  of  these  good  people,  skilfully  laid 
the  beams  one  above  another  to  the  required  height  of  the 
wall,  in  which  were  fitted  some  windows.  The  manner  of 
constructing  the  floor  and  wooden  ceiling  was  the  most  labori- 
ous possible,  for  the  planks  were  wrought  out  and  shaped  by 
the  axe  alone :  one  huge  tree  two  or  three  feet  in  diameter 
often  furnishing  a  single  plank.  This  immense  work  dis- 
tributed among  the  different  families,  however,  was  completed 
within  a  few  days.  Before  the  church  had  been  built  not  one 
even  of  the  Christian  Indians  had  troubled  himself  to  raise  a 
little  house  of  timber  for  his  family;  but  after  that,  they  built 
a  fine  village  on  this  remote,  solitary  inlet  of  Lake  Michigan, 
and  they  called  it  by  the  old  name  of  the  place  where  the 
Jesuits  had  first  diffused  the  light  of  Faith.  The  Ottawas 
did  not  allow  traders  to  live  in  their  village,  fearing  to  see 
the  contamination  of  these  men's  habits  introduced  therein ; 
moreover  there  was  a  prohibition  against  bringing  their 
brandy  there,  for  it  had  been  the  source  of  the  direst  evils 
among  them. 

In  this  happy  spot  of  primitive  fervor  every  one  rose  at 
the  sound  of  the  Ave  Maria  and  in  a  few  minutes  was  ready 
to  repair  to  the  church.    There  they  recited  every  day  morning 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    67 

prayers,  then  assisted  at  the  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  new  Law 
with  the  greatest  devotion,  accompanying  their  worship  with 
pious  canticles  in  their  own  language.  Before  departing  to 
their  homes  and  labors,  the  holy  Priest  used  to  say  a  few 
words  of  instruction  through  an  interpreter,  until  the  time 
when  with  indefatigable  application,  he  became  able  to  speak 
their  language  himself.  At  the  noon  Ave  Maria,  the  poor 
Indians  did  not  fail  to  turn  hearts  and  minds  to  the  great 
mystery  of  man's  Redemption,  by  reciting  the  Angelus :  thus 
did  they  also  at  even  at  the  sound  of  the  bell  which  summoned 
them  to  the  Church  for  vesper  prayers. 

O  that  the  vain  philosophers  of  our  own  day  could  but 
learn  from  these  people,  the  "poor  in  spirit" !  A  Christian 
savage  is  far  wiser  and  more  far-seeing  than  that  man,  who 
after  spending  his  days  in  storing  his  intellect  with  sciences, 
divine  and  human,  afterwards  forgets  his  Creator.  The  former 
studies  and  loves  with  all  his  soul  the  Uncreated  Wisdom  which 
communicated  itself  to  his  spirit  by  Faith,  and  by  a  life  pure 
and  lowly  is  secured  the  eternal  possession  of  its  Divine  Source  ; 
the  other,  insensate  and  short-sighted,  loses  himself  in  the 
Creator's  works  but  without  well  comprehending  them, — and 
while  refusing  his  heart's  constant  homage  to  God,  loses  him- 
self in  those  everlasting  shadows  which  will  encompass  the 
spirit  which  in  life  loves  not  and  serves  not  Christ,  the  true 
Light  of  the  world. 

Religion  possesses  in  the  treasury  of  her  graces  the  effica- 
cious means  for  the  regeneration  of  humanity,  even  when  fallen 
into  the  most  deplorable  state.  The  savage  owes  to  the  Gospel 
the  amelioration  of  his  physical  condition,  because  this  calls 
upon  him  to  form  the  society  in  which  he  readily  finds  the 
means  of  subsistence.  Before  he  heard  the  word  of  truth,  the 
necessities  of  life  were  secured  almost  entirely  by  the  chase, 
and  rarely  did  he  provide  in  the  summer  against  the  cruel 
needs  of  a  long  winter  when  he  was  compelled  to  follow  up 
here  and  there  the  forest  prey,  that  he  might  support  life  on 
their  flesh.  To  add  to  his  misfortune,  the  trading  with  Euro- 
peans taught  the  savage  the  vice  of  drunkenness  with  its  train 


68    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

of  all  other  vices;  then  famine  and  homicide  decimated  the 
tribes.  The  Ottawas  enlightened  by  holy  Faith,  planted  the 
poor  homes  around  the  Altar,  whereon  was  offered  the  Divine 
Victim  for  man's  salvation,  and  faithful  to  common  prayer, 
tasted  how  sweet  a  thing  it  is  to  dwell  in  unity.  When  they 
advanced  thus  far,  many  abandoned  hunting  to  devote  them- 
selves to  cultivating  grain  and  vegetables;  domestic  animals 
and  fish  supplied  them  with  meat ;  so  the  church  was  frequented, 
and  their  own  hearth-stone  during  the  long  winter,  was  enjoyed 
in  peace  by  those  who,  but  a  few  years  before,  had  to  pass 
days  and  nights  exposed  to  all  inclemencies  of  the  elements 
to  save  themselves  from  perishing  from  hunger.  The  neces- 
sary arts  found  some  to  cherish  them  in  that  tribe;  the  car- 
penter had  his  workshop,  the  blacksmith  made  Arbre-Croche 
ring  with  the  measured  strokes  of  his  heavy  hammer;  the 
fragile  hut  had  been  given  up  for  a  solid  dwelling  of  timber, 
a  floor  dry  and  comfortable,  with  chairs,  tables,  bedstead,  in 
place  of  the  bare  wet  earth.  The  change  verified  the  promises 
made  by  Christ  to  those  who  "seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God 
and  His  justice,"  and  then  will  have  all  things  added  to  them. 

Apostolic  zeal  is  not  content  with  doing  good  only  to  those 
around  it,  but  carries  its  solicitude  on  wherever  its  forces  can 
assist  it.  The  Reverend  Father  Baraga  often  traversed  that 
northern  portion  of  Michigan  inhabited  by  the  Ottawas,  and 
in  a  few  years  of  toil  was  gathered  there  a  flock  of  more  than 
a  thousand  Christians  almost  all  of  whom  had  been  baptized 
by  himself.  In  four  localities  he  built  a  plain  little  church, 
where  the  good  Indians  assembled  to  recite  daily  prayers  in 
common,  and  on  Sunday  they  chanted  the  Mass  prayers  and 
pious  hymns.  The  zealous  Priest  did  not  fear  to  undertake 
long  voyages  upon  these  immense  Lakes  in  a  frail  canoe  con- 
structed of  bark;  familiarized  with  a  life  destitute  of  all  deli- 
cacies and  ordinary  comforts,  everywhere  he  found  wherewith 
to  barely  sustain  life.  Loved  and  revered  by  his  spiritual 
children,  he  found  in  them  his  glory  and  heavenly  riches. 

They  are  unjust  who  seeing  not  the  beam  in  their  own 
eye,  desire  to  blame  the  mote  in  their  brother's  eye;  if  they 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    69 

behold  or  heedlessly  believe  that  they  behold  imperfections 
in  some  of  the  Catholic  clergy,  they  condemn  the  entire  body 
of  the  Sanctuary.  But  the  holy  lives  of  many  Priests,  who 
have  forsaken  father-land,  parents,  every  friend  on  earth,  and 
have  consecrated  their  lives  to  the  salvation  of  wild  and  savage 
peoples,  ought  in  justice  to  be  put  in  the  balance  on  the  side 
of  the  Sanctuary.  But  the  bad  see  only  the  evil  which  they 
love,  and  strangers  to  the  good,  they  ignore  it  and  pass  judg- 
ment blindly. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

INDIANS  CONVERTED  AT  MACKINAC— CATHO- 
LICS OF  POINT  SAINT  IGNACE— DEATH  OF 
AN  OLD  MAN— SINCERE  CONVERSION  OF 
ANOTHER. 

The  parish  of  Mackinac  was  favorable  to  the  conversion 
of  the  savages.  Many  of  these  came  from  its  vicinity  to  hear 
the  Religious  instructions  given  in  their  own  language  through 
an  interpreter;  in  the  spring  of  1832  were  counted  more  than 
fifty  members  of  the  Catholic  Church.  This  island  having 
been  a  central  trading  point,  the  Indians  who  had  pitched  their 
lodges  there,  were  an  intermixture  of  Chippewas  who  still 
occupy  the  upper  portion  of  Wisconsin  Territory,  with  Ottawas 
and  Menominees.  The  languages  of  these  tribes  are  almost 
identical,  and  are  therefore  easily  understood  among  them. 
To  facilitate  their  conversion  and  invite  them  to  come  to  the 
Church  on  festival  days,  at  Sunday  Vespers,  they  chanted 
alternately  one  verse  in  Latin  and  the  next  in  Indian ;  the 
variety  and  pleasing  effect  of  this  new  method  of  singing 
psalms,  aroused  in  the  heart  the  sublime  emotions  suggestive 
of  the  grand  Catholic  unity  and  universality.  The  Indians  from 
a  small  gallery  thus  chanted  the  praises  of  God  with  the  pious 
affections  of  King  David  and  mingled  voices  and  languages 
in  the  same  words  which  for  so  many  ages  resounded  in  the 
magnificent  Temple  of  the  God  of  Israel. 

It  was  delightful  and  consoling  to  see  the  humility,  modesty 
and  simplicity  of  the  Indians  at  Sacramental  Confession,  as 
they  were  obliged  to  use  an  interpreter  in  this  Sacrament. 
This  mode  of  Confession  will  be  spoken  of  in  another  chapter. 
The  tender  devotion  which  all  saw  written  upon  their  coun- 
tenances when  they  drew  near  to  receive  the  mysterious  Sac- 

[70] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    71 

rament  of  the  Body  of  Jesus,  was  such  as  to  condemn  the 
extreme  perversity  of  many  Christians  who  either  refuse  to 
participate  in  this  great  Principle  of  Eternal  Life  or  through 
want  of  proper  dispositions  turn  It  to  their  own  condemnation. 
Terrible  and  irreparable  will  be  the  confusion  of  these  false 
disciples  of  our  Redeemer,  when  they  shall  see  the  living  faith 
and  love  of  the  poor  savages  of  many  tribes  towards  the  Most 
Holy  Sacrament,  crowned  with  glorious  immortality,  while 
their  own  indifference  and  negligence  shall  make  their  own 
remorse  in  the  realm  of  everlasting  sorrow. 

A  part  of  the  population  belonging  to  the  parish  of  Mack- 
inac were  living  about  three  miles  from  the  Island  upon  a 
tongue  of  land  named  Pointe  Saint  Ignace.  Traditions  assert 
that  this  name  was  given  by  the  Jesuits  in  memory  of  their 
founder.  See  how  the  ancient  Religious  travelers  who  first 
penetrated  into  the  heart  of  North  America,  named  the  various 
parts  of  creation ;  they  chose  holy  names !  We  have  very  many 
proofs  of  this  pious  practice  in  the  names  of  the  rivers,  espe- 
cially of  southern  America.  Pointe  Saint  Ignace  was  at  that 
epoch  inhabited  by  about  two  hundred  Catholic  whites  and  by 
many  Indians;  therefore  our  Missionary  was  often  obliged  to 
cross  the  strait  which  separates  them  from  the  Island,  some- 
times by  water,  often  upon  the  magnificent  bridge  of  ice  which 
afforded  a  secure  support  to  the  foot  of  the  traveler  for  about 
four  months  in  the  year.  Several  aged  Canadians,  unhappy 
survivors  of  many  years  of  trading  with  the  tribes,  had  been 
left  there,  it  might  be  by  chance,  to  end  their  days  in  extremest 
poverty.  The  voice  of  the  Priest  had  often  fallen  upon  their 
ears  without  reaching  the  hard  heart  rendered  insensible  by 
twenty,  thirty  or  even  forty  years  of  absence  from  the  Sacra- 
ments. The  infinite  goodness  of  Him  Who  grants  this  present 
life  to  His  enemies  that  He  may  save  them  in  the  next,  wrought 
their  conversion  by  degrees.  The  almost  unprovided  death  of 
a  few  of  the  very  aged  who  had  conditionally  prepared  to 
appear  at  the  judgment  seat,  startled  their  companions  out  of 
their  obstinate  lethargy,  and,  fearful  of  falling  unprepared  into 
the  hands  of  the  Li/'ng  God,  they  embraced  the  means  of 


72    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

reconciliation  and  salvation  so  often  offered  to  them  in  vain. 
The  holy  Feast  of  Easter,  1832,  saw  more  than  a  hundred 
communicants  who  a  few  months  before,  dead  to  the  graces 
of  many  years,  had  coldly  pursued  the  ways  of  final  impeni- 
tence. 

Persuaded  that  good  example  proves  a  stimulus  and  encour- 
agement to  virtue,  a  brief  mention  will  be  made  here  of  two 
aged  persons;  one  will  serve  to  make  a  death-bed  conversion 
dreaded ;  the  other  will  give  edification  with  its  sincere  sorrow. 
A  certain  N.  at  the  advanced  age  of  more  than  eighty  years 
was  drawing  near  the  close  of  his  career.  He  did  not  take 
kindly  to  the  visits  of  the  Priest  for  the  reason  that  the  latter 
was  young  and  was  presuming  to  know  more  than  he.  His 
infirmities  held  him  prisoner  in  his  wretched  cabin,  and  death 
was  already  knocking  at  his  door.  After  many  attempts  to 
persuade  him  to  the  repentance  indispensable  for  an  ill-spent 
life,  his  nearness  to  his  dissolution  and  the  terrible  judgments 
of  the  Lord  laid  before  him  with  the  powerful  words  of 
Religion  at  last  urged  him  to  promise  to  make  his  Confession. 
But  although  upon  the  very  brink  of  hell  he  kept  deferring 
the  fulfilment  o£  his  promise  from  one  day  to  another.  The 
Priest  was  obliged  to  use  that  gentle  severity  inspired  by 
charity  in  order  to  persuade  him  to  begin  the  humble  and 
penitent  self-accusation  of  his  faults;  by  dint  of  questioning 
he  obtained  from  that  benumbed  soul  only  a  probable  dis- 
position to  receive  a  favorable  sentence  in  the  Sacrament  of 
Penance  which  under  other  circumstances  would  have  been 
denied.  The  indifference  of  the  sick  man  and  the  Priest's 
hope  of  seeing  him  better  disposed  to  a  worthy  reception  of 
the  Most  Holy  Eucharist  kept  that  Bread  of  the  dying  away 
from  the  old  man's  house.  But  one  night  the  Servant  of  the 
Altar  is  called  to  assist  that  soul  in  its  passage  to  Eternity. 
He  enters  the  cottage,  sees  the  man  breathing  with  such  dif- 
ficulty and  so  oppressed  by  his  disease  as  to  be  absolutely 
unable  to  receive  Holy  Communion ;  the  Sacrament  of  Extreme 
Unction  is  administered,  the  last  prayers  are  uttered  and  the 
old  man  dies  without  any  sign  of  Religion.    Oh  how  true  that 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    73 

a  death-bed  conversion  itself  participates  in  death!  The  living 
nourish  fine  hopes  in  like  cases,  but  a  secret  fear  taught  us  by 
Divine  Justice  and  by  experience  makes  us  tremble  for  their 
safety. 

Safe  and  comforting  would  it  be  for  sinners  to  imitate  the 
conduct  of  that  aged  man  who  in  1832  went  from  Pointe  Saint 
Ignace  to  the  Church  of  Mackinac  to  lay  down  the  burden 
upon  his  conscience;  for  more  than  forty  years  deprived  of 
the  Sacramental  Grace  of  Confession,  Mr.  N.  with  the  intent 
of  ending  the  gnawing  at  his  heart  said  with  the  prodigal  son, 
"I  will  go  to  my  Heavenly  Father's  house:  Why  should  I 
defraud  myself  of  the  inheritance  of  the  children  of  God?  The 
moving  words  of  life  which  I  heard  last  Sunday  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Priest  pierced  my  heart,  they  seemed  to  be 
aimed  at  me.  I  am  a  true  son  of  the  Church  who  made 
strange  misuse  of  the  gifts  of  Heaven  received  in  my  youth. 
Lo  my  soul  for  many  years  lives  in  direst  poverty  and  is  dying 
of  hunger!"  Moved  by  these  thoughts  which  softened  his 
heart,  he  makes  ready  and  leaning  upon  his  staff  crosses  over 
upon  the  ice  which  in  winter  joins  his  place  of  abode  to  the 
Island.  Like  the  leper  of  the  Gospel,  he  shows  himself  to 
the  Priest  manifesting  the  clearest  signs  of  a  true  contrition 
in  the  accusation  of  his  faults  of  more  than  forty  years.  He 
blots  out  his  sins  with  his  sobs,  he  washes  them  with  floods 
of  tears  in  the  merits  of  Christ,  and  provides  for  the  welfare 
of  his  soul  which  he  wills  to  save  at  any  cost.  Rising  then 
from  the  tribunal  of  Penance  with  a  deep  sigh  from  his  very 
heart,  he  said :  "My  father,  I  seem  to  have  laid  down  from 
my  shoulders  the  weight  of  a  mountain !"  Such  was  his  grati- 
tude to  God's  Mercy  that  he  could  never  afterwards  speak  of 
his  confession  without  tears  of  tenderness. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

OTHER  SAVAGES  BAPTIZED  AT  GREEN  BAY- 
SPIRITUAL  EXERCISES  AT  MACKINAC— 
BISHOP  FENWICK,  HIS  FEAR  OF  GOD'S  JUDG- 
MENTS—THIRTY-TWO MARRIAGES  SOLEM- 
NIZED AT  THE  VILLAGE  OF  SAINTE  MARIE. 

By  the  first  canoe  that  passed  through  the  Straits  of 
Mackinac  in  the  spring  of  1832  when  the  ice  of  a  long  winter 
had  been  scattered  and  melted  by  sun  and  wind,  our  Missionary 
betook  himself  to  Green  Bay  where  during  the  preceding 
winter  the  conversion  of  many  Indians  had  been  wrought. 
He  spent  almost  two  months  to  strengthen  among  the  French 
settlers  that  piety  which  may  easily  grow  cold  when  far 
removed  from  the  Sacraments.  The  poor  Menominee  Indians 
baptized  some  months  before  were  awaiting  the  Black  Gown, 
as  they  call  the  Priest,  with  the  greatest  impatience,  because 
they  longed  to  receive  Holy  Communion,  and  to  see  others 
of  their  tribe  received  into  the  bosom  of  the  Church.  In  fact, 
more  than  sixty  at  that  time  were  judged  worthy  of  receiving 
the  Sacrament  of  Regeneration.  It  would  be  beyond  the 
limits  of  truth,  to  consider  the  Priest  as  the  principal  instru- 
ment in  the  Hand  of  God  in  this  work  of  conversion ;  he  was 
but  the  secondary  means,  properly  speaking.  The  real  reason 
is  that  the  Indians,  once  made  Christian,  feel  for  the  pagans 
of  their  nation  that  Heaven-sent  charity  that  urges  them  to 
consecrate  themselves  with  all  their  might,  by  force  of  example 
and  instruction,  to  gain  them  over  to  the  same  Faith,  by  which 
they  themselves  are  animated. 

Returning  to  Mackinac  at  the  beginning  of  July,  the  Priest 
had  the  exceeding  great  consolation  of  finding  there  his  beloved, 
humble-minded   Bishop  Fenwick,  who  had  come  there  from 

[74] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    75 

Cincinnati  as  on  the  previous  year,  to  pay  a  visit  to  the  poor 
dwellers  in  this  country,  but  especially  to  the  Indians.  His 
health  was  so  feeble,  however,  that  after  a  visit  to  Arbre- 
Croche  he  fell  so  ill  at  the  Island  that  he  was  unable  to  go  on 
to  Green  Bay  in  Wisconsin  as  he  desired.  Recovering  some- 
what from  this  extreme  debility,  near  the  end  of  July  a  course 
of  Spiritual  Exercises  was  begun  for  the  people  of  the  Island, 
and  for  a  large  number  of  Canadian  traders  who  at  that  season 
came  to  bring  the  skins  obtained  from  the  savages  to  pro- 
cure the  provisions  needed  for  the  next  winter.  These 
traders  were  then  arriving  from  the  north  and  from  the  east : 
some  after  a  journey  of  six  or  eight  hundred  miles,  both  by 
land  and  by  water.  Nearly  all  professed  the  Catholic  Faith, 
but  employed  many  years  among  pagan  tribes  without  ever 
seeing  Priest  or  Church,  the  Faith  was  nearly  dead  within 
them.  The  Exercises  carried  on  in  the  Mackinac  Church 
were  mainly  for  the  conversion  of  these.  God  blessed  his 
people,  and  for  almost  two  weeks  the  good  Bishop  with  his 
Priest  were  occupied  with  the  confessions  of  hundreds,  who, 
some  for  twenty,  some  for  forty  years  and  more,  had  not 
approached  that  Sacrament.  The  sincerity  of  repentance  at 
the  sacred  tribunal  raised  gladdest  hopes  that  they  would  bear 
away  to  their  far-off  homes  the  priceless  grace  of  persever- 
ance. 

On  this  last  occasion  when  the  Missionary  had  the  satisfac- 
tion of  enjoying  the  companionship  of  that  Prelate  who  had 
conferred  upon  him  the  Sacrament  of  Ordination,  there  was 
a  circumstance  that  deserved  to  be  transmitted  to  the  remem- 
brance of  posterity.  The  Most  Reverend  Jean  Jean,  having 
come  at  the  same  time  as  the  Bishop,  when  he  saw  him  stricken 
with  illness  showed  in  a  little  book  the  words  which  he  had 
heard  from  the  Bishop's  mouth  in  Cincinnati,  on  Pentecost  of 
this  year,  after  the  Pontifical  High  Mass :  "This  is  the  last 
time  in  my  life  that  I  celebrate  Mass  in  this  Church."  The 
event  verified  the  prediction.  So  persuaded  was  Monsignore 
Fenwick  of  his  approaching  dissolution,  that  in  the  Priest's 
room  at  Mackinac  he  often  walked  back  and  forth  buried  in 


76    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

thought,  without  uttering  a  word,  and  without  giving  any 
reason  for  his  sorrow.  One  day  the  Priest  on  entering  his 
little  house  found  the  Bishop  seated  and  such  was  the  sad- 
ness of  his  heart  that  his  cheeks  were  bathed  in  tears :  the 
reader  may  imagine  the  feelings  this  caused  in  the  heart  of  him 
who  loved  the  Bishop  so  tenderly.  For  some  time  it  was  im- 
possible to  discover  the  cause,  but  overcome  by  the  anxious 
pleading  of  his  spiritual  son,  he  broke  forth  in  solemn  accents 
expressing  the  fear  which  agitated  his  soul,  of  appearing  soon 
before  the  dread  tribunal  of  God ;  he  blamed  himself  for  having 
accepted  the  Episcopacy  of  which  he  was  unworthy  and  unable 
to  carry  the  burden,  declaring  that  he  had  badly  governed  his 
diocese  and  that  he  knew  nought  to  answer  to  the  Judge 
Supreme.  Who  would  not  be  affected  and  edified  at  the  pro- 
found humility  of  these  laments  uttered  before  one  who  so 
tenderly  venerated  him  ?  Silencing  his  own  sorrow,  his  disciple 
set  himself  to  console  his  afflicted  teacher,  representing  that 
as  he  had  taken  the  Vow  of  Obedience  in  the  Order  of  Saint 
Dominic,  in  accepting  the  Bishopric  he  had  only  executed  the 
command  of  his  Superior;  and  even  should  he  have  lacked 
aught  in  the  solemn  duties  of  the  Episcopate,  his  upright  inten- 
tion and  the  mercy  of  Jesus  Christ  would  intercede  for  him 
before  the  just  and  eternal  Judge.  With  such  words  did  the 
Priest  strive  to  console  his  humble  and  holy  Bishop  whom  an 
interior  voice  was  summoning  to  the  life  wherein  all  tears 
would  be  wiped  away,  sorrow  changed  into  joy,  and  the  holy, 
saving  fear  of  Divine  Justice  recompensed  by  the  assurance 
of  enjoying  forever  the  peace  and  the  glory  of  the  heavenly 
Jerusalem.  The  venerable  Bishop  Fenwick  died  towards  the 
end  of  the  next  September,  at  Canton,  while  on  his  way  from 
Mackinac  to  Cincinnati.  His  Memory  is  yet  in  benediction 
among  the  faithful ;  his  spirit  of  prayer,  of  poverty,  of  humility, 
of  all  virtues,  enhanced  by  that  charming  affability,  sweetness 
and  noble  bearing  can  never  be  forgotten  by  one  who  had  the 
good  fortune  to  know  him  well  in  life.  His  last  sentiments 
may  well  serve  not  only  as  salutary  advice  and  instruction  to 
one  raised  to  ecclesiastical  dignities  but  also  as  just  warning 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    77 

to  many  who,  ignoring  their  tremendous  responsibilities,  too 
lightly  and  eagerly  desire  them. 

Having  bade  farewell  to  the  good  Bishop  for  the  last  time, 
the  Missionary  set  out  on  the  fifteenth  of  August,  1832,  for 
Sault  Sainte  Marie.  The  remarkable  circumstance  of  this  sec- 
ond visit  was  the  number  of  marriages  solemnized  among  the 
Catholics.  In  a  region  where  there  are  no  clergy,  the  faithful 
had  contracted  the  marriage  obligations  in  presence  of  parents 
or  friends,  as  witnesses  of  their  solemn  promises  ;  and  generally 
they  added  that  of  renewing  them  before  a  Priest  when  they 
had  the  opportunity,  which  happened  to  not  a  few.  They 
refused  to  recognize  the  civil  authority  in  such  cases  and  in 
the  absence  of  a  priest,  they  did  not  have  recourse  to  the 
magistrate  to  legalize  their  union.  The  law  divine  and  human, 
upon  this  important  contract  this  year  were  expounded  by  the 
Priest  with  great  earnestness  during  this  Mission;  finally,  the 
Catholics  consented  to  prepare  worthily  for  the  Sacrament  of 
Matrimony,  and  in  six  days  thirty-two  couples  received  the 
nuptial  benediction.  Among  these  was  a  decrepit  old  man  who 
came  with  his  aged  wife  to  renew  the  solemn  promises, — fol- 
lowed by  their  sons  who  had  children  also.  To  facilitate  these 
marriages  of  prime  necessity,  the  offering,  even  the  very  least, 
was  refused.  Thus  many  spiritual  and  temporal  woes  found  a 
seasonable  remedy  through  the  influence  of  Religion.  This 
short  but  profitable  Mission  was  also  crowned  by  many  bap- 
tisms among  the  Indians,  chiefly  of  the  Chippewa  tribe. 


CHAPTER  XV 

SIGNS  OF  WAR  WITH  THE  SAVAGES— MANNER 
AND  DIFFICULTIES  OF  TRAVELING  IN  WIS- 
CONSIN TERRITORY  IN  1832— A  NIGHT  OFF 
THE  RIGHT  PATH— THE  CATHOLICS  OF 
PRAIRIE  DU  CHIEN— RETURN  TO  MACKINAC 

The  crying  needs  of  an  old  village  on  the  Mississippi  River, 
inhabited  at  that  time  by  more  than  six  hundred  Catholics, 
for  the  most  part  Catholic  in  name  only,  called  the  Missionary 
to  return  from  Sault  Sainte  Marie  to  the  Island  of  Mackinac, 
and  from  there  after  a  brief  stay  to  set  out  for  Green  Bay; 
thence  he  continued  his  journey  as  far  as  Prairie  du  Chien. 
The  warlike  tribes  of  the  Sacs  and  Foxes,  with  their  stubborn 
war*  against  the  United  States  Government  had  in  1832 
spread  terror  and  confusion  for  many  months  throughout 
the  southern  and  western  parts  of  Wisconsin  Territory. 
There  some  of  the  citizens  had  been  barbarously  murdered, 
but  their  death  was  avenged  later  by  the  united  forces  of  the 
settlers  who,  pursuing  the  hostile  and  rebellious  tribes,  after 
different  bloody  encounters,  drove  the  wretched  savages  to 
the  necessity  of  swimming  across  the  vast  river  Mississippi, 
near  Prairie  du  Chien.  How  great  the  slaughter  among  the 
Indians  it  will  not  be  easy  to  recount,  because,  forced  after 
useless  resistance  to  save  life  by  getting  across  the  river,  many 
perished  in  that  difficult  passage.  Not  provided  with  a  suf- 
ficient number  of  horses,  each  of  these  carried  more  than  one 
rider  and  so  their  flight  was  slow  and  perilous.  The  white 
man  ceased  not  pursuing  the  fugitives  by  force  of  arms,  killing 
them  in  the  very  act  of  leaving  the  bank.  Not  a  few  women 
and  children  perished  in  the  current,  victims  of  the  cruelty 

*  Black  Hawk  War. 

[78] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    79 

of  some  citizens,  or  of  their  own  inability  to  cling  to  the 
horse  during  their  dangerous  and  headlong  passage  of  the 
River.  Peace  was  made  in  the  autumn  between  the  United 
States  and  the  savage  Sacs  and  Foxes,  rendering  traveling  safe 
and  secure  again,  which  allowed  our  Missionary  to  cross  the 
Territory  as  far  as  the  great  River. 

At  that  period  there  was  no  travel  possible  in  that  part  of 
the  country  except  on  horseback,  as  there  were  neither  roads 
nor  bridges:  a  little  winding  path  traced  by  the  feet  of  the 
Indians  through  the  woods  and  over  vast  natural  meadows 
was  the  only  road.  The  rivers  that  were  not  too  broad  or 
deep  were  crossed  on  horseback;  over  the  others,  the  animal 
was  made  to  swim  alone  to  the  opposite  bank,  and  the  traveler 
followed  in  a  little  canoe  hollowed  out  of  a  log;  when  no  ford 
could  be  found,  a  rude  and  perilous  bridge  was  thrown  across 
by  felling  a  tree  tall  enough  to  reach  from  one  bank  to  the 
other.  Across  rivers  that  are  both  swift  and  deep,  while  one 
crosses  in  a  canoe,  he  has  to  make  the  horse  also  swim  behind 
him,  holding  him  by  the  bridle.  In  this  way  all  the  floods  are 
overcome.  Not  seldom  the  many  swamps  formed  a  most 
serious  obstacle  because  over  these  one  had  to  cross  on  foot 
to  lighten  the  horse.  Notwithstanding  all  possible  precautions, 
the  noble  creature  often  broke  through  the  thin  crust  covering 
the  underlying  soft,  watersoaked  ground ;  when  such  misfor- 
tunes happened,  it  was  not  easy  to  get  the  animal  upon  its 
feet,  for  the  very  effort  made  to  rise  only  sank  him  deeper  into 
the  swamp ;  sometimes  the  poor  creature  was  lost  there.  The 
few  wretched  log  huts  found  twenty  and  often  forty 
miles  apart  were  entirely  destitute  not  only  of  conveniences, 
but  also  of  the  most  necessary  things.  The  open  air  was  often 
preferable  to  such  a  hovel,  and  to  carry  one's  provisions  along 
was  the  most  inconvenient  course,  but  the  most  secure. 

Our  Missionary  had  to  encounter  these  and  other  incon- 
veniences, when  in  the  middle  of  September,  1832,  in 
company  with  the  judge  of  the  Territory  of  Wisconsin  he 
left  Green  Bay  in  order  to  visit  Prairie  du  Chien.  Eight  days 
of  difficult  travel  on  horseback  over  a  crooked   route  were 


80    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

spent  before  reaching  our  destination,  having  made  more  than 
two  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles.  Whoever  undertakes  a 
long  march  in  such  countries  is  provided  with  a  blanket,  some 
meat,  cooked  or  raw,  tea,  kindling  wherewith  to  make  a  fire, 
with  some  tin  kettles.  A  gun  not  seldom  serves  to  provide  a 
meal  of  delicate  wild  fowl.  Twice  a  day  the  cooking  was  done 
near  some  clear  stream ;  the  ground  served  as  table  and  com- 
fortable seat,  a  bit  of  wood  or  bark  furnished  plates;  a  good 
piece  of  meat  roasted  at  the  fire,  without  bread ;  water  or  tea 
made  in  a  tin  cup,  satisfied  the  demands  of  appetite.  In  fact, 
such  a  meal  was  always  more  savory  than  what  the  rich  enjoy, 
who  in  abundance  have  no  contentment,  and  know  not  what 
means  the  blessing  of  a  good  appetite.  Whenever  no  house 
was  in  view  at  evening,  the  horses  were  tied  to  a  tree,  leaving 
their  halters  long  enough  to  allow  them  to  graze,  and  the  two 
wayfarers  comfortably  passed  the  night  wrapped  in  their 
blankets  upon  the  magnificent  carpet  of  nature,  the  weary  limbs 
enjoying  sweet  repose  under  the  starry  vault  of  heaven.  If 
Almighty  God  provides  for  His  servants  a  room  so  grand  and 
so  vast  to  contemplate  in  the  silence  of  the  night,  who  can 
conceive  what  He  has  prepared  for  their  enjoyment  in  the 
everlasting,  more  luminous  day  of  Paradise?  Oh,  how  beau- 
tiful, how  sublime  the  idea  that  silently  coursed  through  the 
soul  of  one  who  on  the  bosom  of  the  vast  prairie,  was  raised 
by  the  countless  gleaming  stars  to  meditate  the  glory  of  the 
Blessed! 

An  example  of  the  difficulty  of  travel  in  those  days  was  the 
unlucky  consequence  once  of  deciding  to  leave  the  narrow 
beaten  path  in  order  to  avoid  a  swamp.  Its  breadth  of  more 
than  half  a  mile,  and  the  sheet  of  water  over  it,  intimidated  the 
two  travelers,  who  believed  they  could  find  a  better  and  more 
direct  route  by  making  a  circuit  round  it,  and  after  an  hour 
and  a  half  of  riding,  the  swamp  was  passed  to  where  it  was 
straight  and  dry.  But  then  neither  knew  how  to  find  the  right 
path,  in  fact  the  only  path,  and  so  in  their  uncertainty  they 
traveled  on  till  night,  when  tired  out  and  taciturn,  the  dark- 
ness compelled  them  to  defer  their  search  until  next  day.    The 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    81 

judge,  without  waiting  for  food,  discontentedly  took  refuge  in 
his  blanket;  his  companion  gaily  employed  himself  in  playing 
cook,  plucking  a  pigeon  shot  that  day,  which  well  prepared 
and  roasted  at  a  fire  made  from  an  old  dead  tree,  turned  out 
of  exquisite  flavor.  One  thing  was  lacking,  that  was  water ; 
but  to  quench  their  burning  thirst  in  the  morning,  the  two 
friends  set  to  work  collecting  in  their  tin  cups  the  dew  that 
bathed  the  grass.  Providence  permitted  them  about  nine  in 
the  morning  to  find  the  right  path  at  last,  where  their  thirst 
was  quenched  at  a  limpid  stream. 

A  useful  reflection  is  here  suggested  by  this  unlucky  chance. 
What  happened  then  teaches  us  the  reality  of  what  happens 
to  those  who,  dreading  the  difficulties  to  be  surmounted  in  the 
narrow  path  of  virtue,  seek  by  vicious  circles  to  reach  that 
happy  end  which  virtue  alone  points  out.  But  over  the  wilful 
ways  of  human  wisdom,  they  lose  the  true  path  without  reach- 
ing the  object  of  their  desires.  But  when  with  the  help  of 
grace  they  leave  the  arid  plains  and  journey  towards  the  path 
of  Religion,  then  only,  drawing  near  the  never  failing  springs 
of  true  happiness,  they  freely  drink  of  the  waters  of  eternal 
life  and  arrive  at  the  longed-for  city  of  the  Blessed. 

Here  we  were,  at  Prairie  du  Chien  by  journey  over  land 
and  water,  on  September  twenty-second.  This  village,  accord- 
ing to  an  old  tradition,  bears  the  name  of  a  chief  called  "The 
Dog,"  whose  tribe  inhabited  that  immense  prairie  which  fol- 
lows the  Mississippi  for  many  miles,  with  a  chain  of  hills  to 
the  east.  Situated  at  the  mouth  of  the  Wisconsin  River,  it 
had  been  for  about  a  century  a  post  of  great  importance  for 
the  traders  in  their  traffic  with  the  different  tribes,  and  like 
many  other  places  of  this  region,  inhabited  for  the  most  part 
by  Canadians  from  Quebec  and  Montreal.  It  now  contains  a 
United  States  Fort  for  defence  against  the  savages,  who,  how- 
ever, have  ceded  their  lands  to  the  Government  and  are  leaving 
the  vicinity. 

The  Catholics  of  Prairie  du  Chien  were  visited  from  time 
to  time  by  Priests,  who  used  to  come  from  the  city  of  Saint 
Louis  in  the  state  of  Missouri  by  ascending  the  great  river  for 


82    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

almost  six  hundred  miles.  There  was  no  sign  of  a  Church 
there  in  1832,  and  the  poor  people  wandering  without  a  shep- 
herd, were  dying  of  that  hunger  of  the  soul  which  destroys  its 
life.  The  disorders  mentioned  in  the  eighth  chapter  of  these 
Memoirs,  in  this  place,  also  offered  a  new  proof  of  the  deca- 
dence of  society,  when,  lacking  the  restraints  of  the  Christian 
Religion,  it  finds  itself  at  the  mercy  of  its  own  weakness. 
A  visit  of  fifteen  days  gave  the  Missionary  an  opportunity  of 
preaching  to  the  Catholics  of  Prairie  du  Chien  on  the  supreme 
importance  of  turning  from  the  ways  of  evil  to  the  God  of 
Mercy,  and  reflecting  upon  the  affair  of  eternal  salvation,  he 
strove  to  move  them  to  true  repentance.  The  Divine  precept 
of  Sacramental  Confession  was  in  like  manner  dwelt  upon 
for  the  good  of  those  who  had  opened  their  hearts  to 
grace.  There  were  added  also  various  familiar  instructions 
upon  the  principal  truths  of  Faith  as  contained  in  the 
Apostles  Creed.  The  people  did  not  fail  to  come  to  hear 
the  words  of  eternal  life — which  were  announced  by  the  Priest 
in  a  large  vacant  house,  wherein  the  Holy  Sacrifice  was  being 
offered.  But  the  long  delay  in  sin,  which  renders  the  soul 
deaf  to  the  voice  of  the  Lord  suffered  only  a  few  to  give  true 
signs  of  contrition ;  and  few  presented  themselves  at  the 
tribunal  of  Penance,  and  still  fewer  had  the  consolation  of 
receiving  the  Holy  Eucharist.  A  great  many  children  received 
the  Sacrament  of  Baptism  and  a  number  renewed  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Priest  the  solemn  promises  of  matrimony,  which 
they  had  already  contracted  according  to  the  civil  law. 

The  Priest  had  been  wishing  to  make  some  preparation 
towards  the  building  of  a  House  of  God,  but  since  he  was 
then  domiciled  at  Mackinac,  about  four  hundred  miles  from 
Prairie  du  Chien  by  the  common  road,  it  would  have  resulted 
in  beginning  a  work  too  far  away,  and  too  impracticable  for 
him.  So  he  decided  to  leave  the  affair  to  the  good  pleasure 
of  Divine  Providence.  Returning  in  company  with  some 
traders  to  Green  Bay,  he  there  found  the  new  church  finished 
and  attended  by  two  Priests  of  the  Congregation  of  the  Holy 
Redeemer,  sent  by  the  Vicar  General  of  the  Diocese  of  Cin- 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    83 

cinnati.  The  people  were  exceedingly  glad  to  hear  from  these 
good  Priests  the  Word  of  Life,  which  then  made  much  prog- 
ress among  the  savages  also.  In  the  beginning  of  November 
the  Priest  set  sail  for  the  Island,  which  was  to  be  his  dwelling 
during  the  winter.  But  a  sudden  violent  storm  rising  from 
the  northern  part  of  Lake  Michigan,  offered  such  obstinate 
resistance  to  the  little  vessel  that  the  captain,  skilful  as  he 
was,  was  forced  to  seek  refuge  in  a  little  inlet  of  the  stormy 
lake ;  there  it  lay  anchored  for  a  day  and  a  night,  exposed  to 
a  furious  storm  of  wind  and  snow ;  at  last  a  favorable  breeze 
springing  up,  the  traveler  was  able  to  reach  the  desired  goal. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

VISIT  TO  ARBRE-CROCHE— THE  REVEREND  FR. 
BARAGA  —  SNOW  SHOES  —  OLD  ARBRE- 
CROCHE  —  LAMENT  OF  AN  OLD  INDIAN 
WOMAN,  AND  GRIEF  OF  A  YOUNG  BRAVE- 
RETURN  TO  ISLAND  OF  MACKINAC. 

If  the  first  step  of  one  desiring  to  teach  others  the  doctrine 
of  Christ  is  to  practice  it  first  himself,  it  will  not  surprise  the 
reader  to  know  that  the  Missionary,  although  wearied  with 
his  late  voyages  by  land  and  by  water  and  just  returned  to  his 
island,  determined  to  pay  a  visit  to  his  spiritual  director. 
Taking  advantage  of  ten  Catholic  Indians  leaving  for  Arbre- 
Croche  in  a  bark  canoe  one  evening  he  crossed  the  Straits 
of  Mackinac  with  them,  and  spent  the  first  night  in  a 
dense  forest,  under  a  little  tent  cheered  by  a  crackling  fire 
close  by, — which  was  supplied  with  fuel  by  the  company. 
Who  will  forget  the  sweet  canticles  sung  in  their  own 
native  tongue  by  the  pious  oarsmen  while  crossing  the  Lake? 
The  starry  vault  above,  the  calm  of  the  limpid  waters,  their 
immensity  lost  in  the  western  horizon,  the  pensive  stillness  of 
the  shores  far-ofT  yet  barely  discernible,  all  seemed  to  echo  the 
sweet  reverent  tones  of  the  simple  good  Ottawas,  who  were 
never  weary  of  celebrating  the  glories  of  that  Almighty  God 
who  had  just  now  called  them  to  the  saving  light  of  the  Gospel. 
Sublime  picture  which  floated  before  the  mind  of  him  who 
sailed  in  their  company!  The  just  man  in  the  dark  night  of 
this  mortal  life  traverses  the  narrow  space  which  leads  to 
eternity, — passes  it  in  the  fragile  vessel  of  flesh, — sees  beyond 
this  space  that  eternity  which  he  fears  to  approach, — and  then 
Faith  discloses  to  him  on  that  other  side  the  land  of  salvation 
near,  but  all  unknown, — then  doth  the  just  raise  his  voice  to 

[84] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    85 

the  heavens,  and  joining  the  perseverance  in  good  works  to 
his  own  timid  faltering,  yet  joyful  accents,  glides  safe  to  the 
longed-for  shore.    Thus  did  he  muse  in  that  narrow  bark. 

Following  the  winding  curves  of  the  Lake  Shore,  on  the 
evening  of  the  second  day,  they  landed  at  the  safe  port  of  the 
new  Arbre-Croche.  *  Our  attention  was  immediately  drawn 
to  several  Indians  who  were  in  the  act  of  throwing  a  barrel 
into  the  Lake, — while  another  party  of  Indians  was  breaking 
up  another  barrel  in  the  middle  of  the  village  street.  On  our 
asking  the  reason  of  this  proceeding,  we  were  answered  that 
one  of  the  traders  had  brought  there  two  barrels  of  brandy, 
which  was  an  offense  against  the  laws  of  the  villagers;  the 
Ottawa  chief  had  ordered  one  of  the  barrels  to  be  thrown  into 
the  lake  and  the  other  to  be  smashed  up  and  as  a  sign  of  con- 
tempt to  be  spilled  in  the  street.  Religion  alone  had  the  power 
to  teach  these  simple  children  of  nature  the  hard  lesson  of 
fleeing  the  occasions  of  sin ;  their  behavior  on  this  occasion 
might  well  be  an  example  to  be  followed  by  many  educated 
Christians. 

The  main  object  of  this  journey  found  in  the  piety  and 
holy  learning  of  Father  Baraga,  and  in  the  tranquillity  and 
sanctity  of  the  place,  that  spiritual  unction  felt  to  the  quick  by 
him  who  so  rarely  had  the  opportunity  to  look  upon  the  face 
of  a  Priest.  Among  the  different  trials  of  a  Missionary  in 
distant  countries,  the  privation  of  the  Sacrament  of  Penance 
is  the  most  cruel.  May  God  grant  that  his  state  of  isolation 
may  perfect  in  him  the  holy  fear  of  God,  that  the  sincere 
desire  to  confess  may  take  the  place  of  the  Sacrament. 

The  devoted  Priest  of  the  Ottawas,  Father  Baraga,  had 
it  in  mind  at  that  time  to  transfer  his  flourishing  Mission  to 
the  zeal  of  another,  in  order  to  bear  the  light  of  the  Gospel 
to  the  many-peopled  tribe  of  the  Chippewas,  who  occupied  the 
upper  portion  of  Wisconsin  Territory  near  Lake  Superior. 
Holy  and  salutary  was  that  call  to  give  up  the  Lord's  fair 
Vineyard  to  the  care  of  another  laborer,  that  he  himself  might 
begin  the  hard  toil  of  planting  a  second.     In  this  design  the 

*See  Chapter  XII. 


86    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

favorable  opinion  of  his  Society  was  with  Father  Baraga.  For 
many  years  has  this  holy  Father  been  toiling  at  the  farthest 
western  extremity  of  Lake  Superior,  called  La  Pointe;  here 
far  from  the  world  he  lives  happily  among  his  converted  Chip- 
pewas  speaking  their  language;  in  these  good  people  living 
in  evangelical  poverty,  he  holds  the  pledge  of  future  glory  with 
the  holy  apostles. 

During  this  visit  to  Arbre-Croche  in  the  beginning  of 
December,  1832,  there  was  a  snow  fall  to  the  depth  of  two 
feet,  and  when  our  Missionary  was  ready  to  return  to  Mack- 
inac, it  was  necessary  to  learn  to  travel  with  an  additional  pair 
of  shoes,  called  "Snow  Shoes."  These  consist  of  a  network 
about  a  foot  and  a  half  wide  and  two  feet  long,  woven  of  cord, 
stretched  tightly  over  an  oval-shaped  wooden  rim,  terminating 
at  the  heel  in  a  point.  One  desiring  to  travel  easily  over  deep 
snow  without  sinking  into  it,  fastens  these  frames  or  snow 
shoes  under  his  ordinary  shoes ;  he  measures  his  steps  so  as 
to  avoid  setting  one  of  these  snowshoes  upon  the  other.  With 
a  little  practice,  they  prove  most  useful  for,  covering  almost 
four  square  feet  of  snow,  a  man's  weight  is  distributed  over 
the  space  covered.  With  this  new  mode  of  locomotion,  the 
Missionary  traveled  about  thirty  miles  in  one  day  along  the 
shore  of  Lake  Michigan :  arriving,  weary  enough,  at  old 
Arbre-Croche,  formerly  evangelized  by  the  Jesuits,  he  re- 
mained there  three  days. 

He  was  walking  near  the  Lake  one  evening,  reading  his 
Breviary  while  the  Indians  were  going  up  to  the  little  church 
for  evening  prayer;  a  blind  woman  at  the  advanced  age  of 
ninety  or  a  hundred  years  *  was  among  the  number,  and  on 
her  asking  where  the  Priest  was,  they  answered  her  that  he 
was  walking  by  the  Lake  and  saying  his  prayers.  "Ah,"  she 
rejoined,  "I  remember  in  my  own  youth,  the  Priest  who  taught 
us  the  Faith,  used  to  do  the  very  same  thing  in  that  same 
place."  These  simple  words  confirm  the  general  belief  that 
the  Jesuits  had  planted  the  Faith  in  that  region.    At  the  foot 

*  It  is  almost  impossible  to  find  out  the  age  of  the  old  Indians,  who 
were  not  baptized  in  infancy  or  of  whom  no  register  was  kept. 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    87 

of  a  little  hill  upon  which  the  church  now  stands,  are  seen  the 
tips  of  several  cedar  posts  in  a  straight  line,  almost  entirely 
buried  under  the  sand  piled  up  there  by  the  waves  of  Lake 
Michigan;  tradition  has  it  that  this  was  the  old  cemetery  of 
the  Christians  in  the  time  of  the  Fathers  long  remembered. 

It  would  be  a  serious  omission  to  pass  over  in  silence,  two 
edifying  circumstances  which  occurred  during  these  three  days 
which  the  Minister  of  the  Altar  passed  with  the  good  Indians 
of  Old  Arbre-Croche.  Many  Ottawas  of  that  village  and  its 
vicinity  were  not  yet  Christians,  so  the  occasion  was  propitious 
for  making  converts  to  Christ.  Among  these  an  old  woman 
came  to  the  Priest's  cabin  carrying  a  rough  wooden  box  about 
a  foot  and  a  half  wide,  and  containing  some  red  feathers  and 
an  eagle's  beak.  These  the  Priest  threw  into  the  fire,  along 
with  many  other  objects  of  superstition  belonging  to  other 
pagans  who  were  asking  for  Baptism.  The  old  woman  wept 
bitterly  at  the  sight  of  the  destroying  flames ;  the  interpreter 
asked  her  if  she  was  sorry  for  having  given  to  the  fire  these 
charms  once  so  dear  to  her.  "Oh,  no,"  she  answered,  "I  weep 
at  the  knowledge  of  my  past  ignorance.  See  the  fire  burning 
up  the  things  in  which  I  used  to  believe  there  was  a  divine 
power."  A  good  lesson  for  those  carnal  minded  men  who  see 
the  pleasures  in  which  they  placed  their  whole  hope  and  hap- 
piness destroyed  by  those  same  flames  to  which  they  furnish 
fuel.  Ah,  if  they  would  but  weep  with  the  old  Indian  over 
the  ignorance  which  caused  their  past  wanderings. 

Entering  an  Indian  wigwam  the  Priest  noticed  a  young 
Indian  of  melancholy  aspect  who  seemed  to  have  no  part  in 
the  happy  hearts  and  joyous  looks  of  those  around  him ;  fear- 
ing that  some  misfortune  had  befallen  him  the  interpreter 
asked  the  reason  of  this  behaviour.  The  ready  response  was 
to  the  effect  that  the  deep  and  constant  melancholy  of  the 
young  Christian  arose  from  the  obstinate  refusal  of  all  his 
nearest  relatives  to  be  converted  to  the  Divine  Faith  which  he 
himself  was  professing.  The  Lord  hearkened  to  the  pious 
grieving  of  this  tender  heart  and  soon  called  his  beloved  par- 
ents to  the  light  of  Truth.    How  foolish  are  those  Christians 


88    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

who  weep  and  lament  over  poverty,  misfortunes,  sickness,  the 
death  of  kindred,  and  never  think  of  sorrowing  or  sighing 
over  their  own  sins  and  obstinate  resistance  to  Divine  Grace. 
The  young  Ottawa  might  well  teach  a  lesson  to  such  as  those. 
A  few  Indians  having  been  baptized,  the  Missionary  left 
Old  Arbre-Croche  the  morning  of  the  first  Wednesday  in 
Advent,  guided  by  four  young  Ottawas.  The  snow  was  so 
deep  that  it  was  still  necessary  to  use  snow-shoes.  After  trav- 
eling some  miles  along  the  Lake  Shore,  a  weakness  in  the 
knees  caused  by  the  use  of  the  indispensable  snow-shoes,  com- 
pelled the  Priest  to  let  himself  be  carried  on  the  shoulders  of 
his  traveling  companions.  It  was  probably  noon  when  they 
reached  a  deserted  cabin.  The  appetite  of  a  fast  day  strictly 
observed,  in  spite  of  toilsome  travel,  was  satisfied  by  a  few 
ears  of  corn  roasted  at  the  fire  and  a  porridge  made  of  flour 
and  water,  seasoned  with  sugar.  Thus  does  Divine  Providence 
sometimes  will  to  succor  our  extreme  needs  thus  meagerly,  as 
penalty  for  that  original  disobedience  committed  in  the  midst 
of  plenty,  and  to  try  at  the  same  time  our  humble  submission 
to  the  Will  of  an  offended  God.  Resuming  our  journey,  we 
passed  the  night  at  a  poor  Canadian's  house,  opposite  the 
Island  of  Mackinac.  We  made  landing  there  next  morning 
before  day,  the  lake  being  smooth,  although  there  was  much 
floating  ice.  The  weather  changing  that  same  day,  the  four 
Indians  remained  in  the  Priest's  little  house  for  two  weeks, 
until  the  surface  of  the  straits  was  hardened  by  the  cold  into 
a  safe  and  magnificent  bridge. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

ORDINARY  DUTIES  OF  A  MISSIONARY— DOG- 
MATIC SERMONS  NECESSARY  FOR  CATHO- 
LICS   LIVING   AMONG    SECTARIANS. 

The  life  of  a  Missionary  when  he  is  livmg  in  any  place 
where  there  is  a  Church  does  not  differ  greatly  from  that  of 
a  zealous  parish  Priest  who  finds  himself  alone  to  govern  his 
scattered  flock  over  a  vast  extent  of  country.  Instructing  the 
children,  especially  in  Advent  and  in  Lent,  preaching  twice 
every  Sunday  and  Holy  Day,  celebrating  the  Holy  Mysteries 
daily,  holding  one's  self  ready  at  any  hour  to  receive  penitents, 
visiting  the  sick,  sometimes  twenty  or  thirty  miles  from  the 
Church,  guarding  one's  self  from  idleness  and  from  care  of 
temporal  things  not  appertaining  to  the  Church,  leading  the 
people  in  good  works, — these  are  the  chief  duties  of  one  who 
in  a  distant  land  desires  to  sanctify  the  souls  committed  to 
his  care.  The  poor  Catholic  dwellers  on  the  Island  of  Mackinac 
not  only  needed  these  pastoral  cares,  but  they  were  to  be 
defended  against  the  repeated  assaults  of  the  enemies  of  the 
Catholic  Faith.  We  have  seen  how  in  the  winter  of  1831,  the 
Calvinist  minister  made  trial  of  his  knowledge  against  the 
truth;  the  religious  war  continued  yet  to  give  signs  of  life. 
It  is  a  truth  from  the  mouth  of  Truth  itself :  "He  who  is  not 
with  Me  is  against  Me."  So  religious  hostility  can  be  avoided 
in  no  way  except  by  the  adoption  of  the  same  belief,  or  by  the 
indifferentism  which  is  a  culpable  abandonment  of  every 
Christian  truth. 

Quite  a  number  of  the  soldiers  who  were  stationed  at  the 
little  fort  overlooking  the  Island  were  Catholics  and  until  the 
winter  of  that  year  had  been  allowed  to  assist  at  the  Divine 
Service  of  the  Church.    A  new  official  took  command  in  1833 

[89] 


90    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

and  by  an  infraction  of  the  general  law  of  the  Government  he 
compelled  all  the  soldiers  without  distinction  to  attend  the 
Calvinist  Church  every  Sunday  at  the  hour  of  Divine  Service. 
The  Catholic  soldiers  with  their  Priest  made  complaint  of  this 
as  a  tyranny  and  an  injustice,  without  obtaining  liberty  of 
worship,  however,  before  summer.  See  how  far  a  false  belief 
can  blind  even  a  cultured  man ;  the  most  sacred  laws  of 
nations  are  sometimes  trampled  under  foot  by  reason  of  this 
blindness,  even  in  a  Republic. 

To  keep  the  Faith,  the  Missionary  was  often  obliged  to 
take  the  dogmas  of  the  Church  as  subjects  of  his  discourses, 
and  sometimes  to  enter  the  enemy's  camp  in  order  to  disclose 
the  absurdity  and  falsity  of  their  principles.  Almighty  God, 
Who  makes  use  of  our  nothingness  to  complete  His  plans,  so 
willed  that  such  discussions  should  bear  fruit  of  great  good, 
calling  not  a  few  people  of  the  Island  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
Truth,  particularly  a  number  who  trained  in  the  Calvinistic 
school  for  many  years,  had  forsaken  their  Faith  in  early  youth. 
The  holy  Festival  of  Easter  was  celebrated  this  year  by  the 
Reception  of  the  most  holy  Communion  by  all  the  Catholics  of 
Mackinac  and  its  vicinity  with  the  exception  of  eight  who 
refused  to  draw  near  the  Table  of  Angels. 

The  contemplated  incursions  into  the  yet  unsettled  Ter- 
ritory of  Wisconsin,  as  will  be  seen  later,  suggested  to  the 
Priest  the  advisability  of  learning  to  sleep  upon  the  ground. 
To  acquire  this  physical  accomplishment  it  was  only  necessary 
to  make  the  experiment  in  his  own  room.  The  first  night  of 
making  this  test,  although  two  blankets  were  between  him  and 
the  floor,  he  was  compelled  after  many  hours  to  take  refuge  in 
his  ordinary  bed,  but  on  the  next  night,  having  finally  fallen 
asleep  upon  the  floor,  he  continued  to  find  repose  there  every 
night  for  about  two  months,  thus  making  sure  of  a  couch  any- 
where without  expense. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

FIRST  MISSION  TO  THE  TRIBE  OF  WINNEBAGOS 
IN  1833— THEIR  VICES  ARE  OPPOSED  TO  THE 
GOSPEL—CONVERSION  OF  SEVERAL. 

The  lately  deceased  Bishop  of  Cincinnati  had  expressed  his 
desire  some  months  before  his  death  that  the  Missionary  would 
go  to  announce  the  word  of  the  Gospel  to  the  Winnebago  Tribe 
in  Wisconsin  Territory.  He  left  the  Island  April  16th,  1833, 
and  after  a  few  days'  sojourn  with  the  good  Redemptorist 
Fathers  at  Green  Bay,  he  pushed  on  to  the  west  on  horseback 
for  a  hundred  and  ten  miles  to  a  place  called  Fort  Winnebago, 
because  the  Government  held  a  little  fort  there  as  defense 
against  the  incursions  of  the  Indians.  On  the  western  bank  of 
the  swift,  impetuous  Wisconsin  River,  about  eight  miles  from 
the  Fort,  is  a  village  of  the  tribe,  perhaps  a  hundred  families 
altogether.  These  Indians  are  more  fierce  and  evil  disposed 
in  character  than  either  the  Menominees  or  Ottawas;  their 
habits  were  bad,  addicted  as  they  were  to  drunkenness,  immor- 
ality and  homicide.  Their  language  differs  entirely  from  that 
of  the  neighboring  tribes. 

The  Priest  was  cherishing  the  fond  hope,  with  the  help  of 
Divine  Grace,  that  he  might  convert  some  of  these.  He  had 
the  good  fortune  of  finding  an  excellent  interpreter  in  Mr. 
P.  Paquette,  whose  mother  was  a  Winnebago.  Mr.  Paquette 
was  in  Government  employ, — often  engaged  to  deal  with  the 
tribe,  on  account  of  his  character  and  influence  over  the 
Indians.  Many  times  they  were  assembled  in  a  cabin  to  hear 
the  instructions  given  for  their  conversion  to  the  Faith;  on 
these  occasions,  the  Priest  spoke  to  them  of  the  Unity  of  God 
and  of  the  Three  Divine  Persons,  of  the  mystery  of  the  Incar- 
nation, how   from  the  Fall  of  the  first  man  proceeded  the 

[91] 


92    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

poverty,  ignorance  and  slavery  to  sin  of  those  who,  tempted  by 
the  Evil  Spirit  followed  their  many  superstitious  practices ; 
then  he  exhorted  them  to  a  change  of  life,  declaring  that  the 
Great  Spirit  had  sent  his  servant  to  speak  to  them  in  His 
Name;  and  that  whoever  would  still  continue  in  their  ways 
of  evil  would  after  death  be  punished  forever,  both  in  body 
and  in  soul,  by  that  same  Great  Spirit  in  whom  they  them- 
selves believed,  and  by  Whom  they  had  been  created.  These 
discourses  were  usually  expressed  by  simple  and  natural  exam- 
ples suggested  by  circumstances.  The  holy  Sacrifice  of  the 
Mass  was  also  celebrated,  for  which  these  Indians  have  great 
respect,  because  they  find  therein  a  conformity  with  their  own 
conceptions  of  the  Divinity,  Whom  they  believe  can  be  pro- 
pitiated by  voluntary  sacrifices. 

The  hardheartedness  of  the  Winnebagos,  too  sadly  known 
by  whoever  has  lived  among  them,  did  not  permit  these  hearts 
to  be  penetrated  by  the  power  of  Truth,  still  less  to  be  per- 
suaded to  a  better  life.  A  few  responded  that  the  subjects 
of  which  the  Priest  had  spoken  were  of  too  grave  moment  to 
be  decided  upon  at  once,  and  they  also  alleged  as  an  excuse 
that  as  they  had  lately  sold  a  part  of  their  lands  to  the  Gov- 
ernment, they  did  not  yet  know  to  what  place  they  would  be 
assigned.  All  this  did  not  hinder  a  few  women  from  present- 
ing their  children  for  Baptism,  and  within  three  weeks,  twenty- 
three  received  that  Sacrament,  among  them  eight  adults  who 
had  been  carefully  taught  the  Pater  Noster,  Ave  Maria  and 
Credo,  translated  into  their  own  dialect.  And  here  must  be 
noted  the  great  help  given  to  the  cause  of  Religion  by  Catholic 
women,  children  of  Winnebago  mothers  married  to  Canadians. 
These  good  women  instructed  in  Christian  doctrine  and  know- 
ing the  language  of  the  tribe,  would  go  from  house  to  house 
to  speak  of  Religion.  There  was  great  difficulty,  however,  in 
expressing  in  their  dialect,  ideas  for  which  they  had  no  cor- 
responding expression,  for  these  religious  ideas  were  entirely 
new  to  these  people.  To  supply  the  deficiency  of  Religious 
terms,  it  was  necessary  to  use  compound  terms,  for  instance : 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    93 

The  Trinity,   Mystery,   Altar,   were   expressed   by   Three   in 
One,  Hidden  Truth,  Table  of  Sacrifice,  etc. 

This  visit  was  made  for  the  sole  purpose  of  finding  out  the 
true  state  of  things,  and  whether  or  not  there  was  any  well- 
founded  probability  of  establishing  the  Faith  among  the  Win- 
nebagos.  Notwithstanding  the  very  slight  success,  the  Priest 
still  cherished  the  hope  of  succeeding  better  on  another  occa- 
sion, when  he  could  arrange  to  make  a  longer  stay  there  and 
thus  might  be  able  to  consecrate  himself  to  this  mission  with 
yet  greater  intensity  of  purpose. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

MISSION  AT  SAINTE  MARIE— SECTARIAN  OPPOSI- 
TION—SALUTARY EFFECTS  OF  THIS  VISIT— 
A  BEAR  KILLED  AND  EATEN. 

It  ought  not  to  be  forgotten  by  the  reader  of  these  memoirs 
that  wherever  the  Missionary  was  occupied  among  the  Indians, 
the  other  Missions  under  his  spiritual  care  remained  wholly 
deprived  of  all  spiritual  religious  help,  without  the  celebration 
of  Mass  even  on  Holy  Days,  and  the  sick  breathed  forth  their 
souls  without  the  consolation  of  the  last  Sacraments.  This 
was  the  reason  of  the  shortness  of  his  stay  among  the  Win- 
nebagos,  and  of  his  speedy  return  to  Mackinac  at  the  begin- 
ning of  June ;  whence  a  few  days  after,  he  set  out  by  way  of 
Lake  Huron  and  St.  Mary's  River  for  the  village  of  Sainte 
Marie,  having  thus  traveled  over  more  than  four  hundred  miles. 

It  was  on  Saturday  about  sunset,  when  by  dint  of  rowing 
across  the  river  in  a  little  bark  canoe,  the  Priest  drew  near 
the  place,  where  next  morning,  for  the  first  time  that  year,  he 
was  to  sanctify  the  Lord's  Day  by  the  Unbloody  Sacrifice. 
A  Baptist  minister  saw  that  the  man  clad  in  black  in  the 
middle  of  that  little  boat  was  the  Catholic  Priest ;  without  loss 
of  his  precious  time  he  ran  to  carry  the  sad  tidings  to  the 
persons  belonging  to  his  mission  station.  His  coadjutresses, 
believing  that  they  were  doing  God's  service,  fearing  to  be  too 
late,  visited  the  Indians'  wigwams  in  the  vicinity,  informing 
them  of  the  Priest's  arrival,  but  that  it  would  be  a  sin  against 
the  Great  Spirit  to  assist  at  his  Sacrifice,  because  he  was  not 
teaching  the  true  doctrine  of  Christ.  The  malice,  or  rather  the 
ignorance  of  these  female  apostles,  instead  of  producing  the 
intended  effect,  served  only  to  give  a  welcome  warning  to  the 
people,  that  the  Priest  would  celebrate  Mass  the  next  day. 

[94l 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    95 

In  fact  on  Sunday  the  concourse  was  so  great  at  the  house 
where  Mass  was  celebrated,  and  the  necessity  of  conversion 
to  Penance  preached,  that  in  the  afternoon,  in  order  to  accom- 
modate the  number  of  hearers,  services  were  carried  on  in  the 
open  air  under  the  shade  of  an  old  oak  tree.  Many  of  those 
who  were  engaged  the  day  before  in  dissuading  the  people 
from  assisting  at  Catholic  services,  now  through  curiosity  came 
to  listen  to  the  reasoning  which  proves  the  unity  and  perpetuity 
of  the  Church  and  the  fallacies  of  the  ever  varying  sects. 

The  Missionary  afterwards  reproached  the  minister  for  his 
conduct  on  the  previous  Saturday,  but  while  not  denying  the 
fact,  he  excused  himself  by  saying  that  never  in  his  life  had 
he  had  the  pleasure  of  speaking  with  a  Catholic  Priest.  Error 
is  ever  dashing  itself  against  the  truth,  which  it  does  not  com- 
prehend; of  the  same  fault  are  the  falsely  wise  of  our  own 
day  guilty,  who  in  their  profound  ignorance  blaspheme  what 
they  do  not  understand. 

The  week  was  spent  in  preparing  a  large  number  of  the 
poor  people  to  make  their  Easter  duty  on  the  following  Sunday, 
when,  too,  a  great  many  of  the  Indians,  especially  those  mar- 
ried to  Canadians,  were  received  to  the  Sacrament  of  Baptism. 
The  Lord's  Day,  on  the  twenty-third  of  June,  was  celebrated 
in  a  commodious  frame  house,  near  the  eastern  bank  of  Saint 
Mary's  River,  in  the  Province  of  Canada,  that  the  people  of 
that  part  of  the  country  might  have  the  consolation  of  assem- 
bling in  Church.  Even  the  windows  were  occupied  by  the 
worshippers,  the  building  not  being  able  to  accommodate  the 
great  number.  Many  of  the  Communicants  had  been  for  many 
years  with  no  knowledge  of  the  duties  of  a  Christian  far  away 
from  the  Blessed  Sacrament;  for  this  reason  the  Missionary 
considered  it  a  favorable  opportunity  for  preaching  upon  the 
spiritual  Resurrection  of  a  sinner  to  a  new  life  of  fervor  and 
good  works. 

Among  the  blessings  bestowed  by  Divine  Grace,  that  which 
touched  the  heart  of  an  aged  man,  a  Canadian,  must  not  be 
passed  over  in  silence.  Since  the  age  of  eighteen  years,  when 
he  left  his  native  city,  Montreal,  he  had  not  been  to  confession 


96    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

for  sixty-one  years;  he  had  passed  all  that  time  in  distant 
quarters  of  the  country,  among  the  Indians,  and  engaged  in 
trading  with  them.  Although  confined  to  the  house  by  his 
many  infirmities,  and  in  danger  of  death,  he  had  taken  no  heed 
of  his  opportunities  of  reconciling  himself  with  that  God,  in 
Whose  Presence  he  must  soon  appear.  When  the  Priest  visited 
him  in  June,  1833,  he  reproved  the  aged  man  for  his  past 
obstinacy  and  indifference;  the  poor  old  man,  impressed  by 
this,  with  the  hope  of  having  a  happy  death,  promised  that  he 
would  prepare  for  Confession.  Though  this  conversion  per- 
haps displayed  few  external  signs  of  grief,  yet  as  a  man  of 
keen  understanding  he  realized  the  great  peril  in  which  he  had 
lived,  the  danger  of  dying  unrepentant,  and  permeated  with 
gratitude  to  the  Divine  Mercy,  he  kept  giving  thanks  for  it, 
with  fervent  and  repeated  pious  ejaculations.  With  such  dis- 
positions, while  confined  to  his  bed,  he  received  the  most  Holy 
Communion  on  the  twenty-third  day  of  the  same  month,  and 
Almighty  God  called  him  home,  the  next  January.  He  Who 
willed  not  his  death  but  his  conversion,  had  detained  him  on 
the  borders  of  the  grave,  until  with  humility  and  confidence 
he  had  received  the  Price  of  man's  Redemption.  This  striking 
occurrence  will  help  to  set  forth  more  resplendently  the  ways 
of  infinite  Mercy. 

During  this  year  the  spiritual  charge  of  Sainte  Marie 
Parish  was  given  by  the  Administrator  of  Cincinnati  to  a 
Priest  who  made  his  home  there  permanently. 

While  going  down  Saint  Mary's  River,  about  ten  miles 
from  the  village,  the  Missionary  saw  a  bear  swimming  across : 
immediately  the  two  Indians  who  were  rowing  left  him  upon 
the  bank  and  hurried  to  overtake  the  beast.  While  one  was 
urging  the  canoe  forward,  the  other  was  fastening  his  knife 
to  the  end  of  a  pole.  The  bear  was  not  far  from  the  river 
bank  when  his  two  enemies  were  upon  him  and  dexterously 
wounded  him  with  the  spear,  when  the  furious  animal  made 
many  attempts  to  climb  into  the  little  boat,  but  without  suc- 
ceeding, for  they  always  drew  back  in  good  time.  Though 
wounded  all  over  and  having  lost  much  blood,  the  bear  at  last 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    97 

reached  the  bank,  weak  and  powerless,  tried  to  crawl  forward 
a  few  steps,  but  unable  to  defend  himself,  he  turned  round 
showing  his  teeth,  with  fierce  looks,  yet  pitiful  cries  at  his 
pursuers,  who  despatched  him  by  a  blow  on  the  head  with  the 
gun.  The  huge  carcass  was  loaded  on  the  boat,  the  victors 
crossed  the  river  to  the  place  where  the  Priest,  the  only  spec- 
tator of  their  exploit,  was  waiting  for  them;  the  skin  fell  to 
his  share  and  the  delicious  flesh  to  all,  and  a  sumptuous  dinner 
was  served  of  it  that  very  day.  The  company  of  three  having 
gone  farther  into  the  woods  to  cook  the  meat,  found  a  number 
of  Indians  hunting;  these  too  shared  in  the  spoils  and  ate 
to  the  full. 

It  was  an  unusual  experience  to  the  European  to  find  him- 
self regaled  with  the  flesh  of  a  wild  bear  that  was  living  and 
swimming  not  two  hours  before. 


CHAPTER  XX 

THE  WINNEBAGO  INDIANS  ARE  EVANGELIZED— 
MANY  RECEIVE  BAPTISM— PROOFS  OF  TRUE 
CONVERSION— A  LITTLE  PRAYER  BOOK  IN 
THEIR  OWN  LANGUAGE  PRINTED  IN  1833. 

The  Very  Reverend  Frederic  Rese  at  that  time  Adminis- 
trator of  the  diocese,  *  wrote  to  our  Missionary  on  the  twenty- 
fifth  oi  July,  1833,  to  the  effect  that  as  the  Mission  to  the 
Winnebagos  had  been  entrusted  to  him  by  the  Right  Reverend 
Edward  Fenwick,  the  lately  deceased  Bishop  of  Cincinnati, 
and  as  it  had  already  borne  some  fruit,  the  mission  had  been 
conferred  upon  him,  the  Missionary,  anew ;  and  that  he  begged 
him  to  devote  himself,  with  all  earnestness,  to  carry  on  to  a 
successful  issue  what  had  been  begun  by  Divine  Grace.  Ac- 
cordingly towards  the  middle  of  August,  when  the  crowd  of 
traders  had  left  Mackinac  for  their  various  posts,  the  Priest 
set  out  on  his  journey  of  two  hundred  miles  by  boat,  and 
more  than  one  hundred  on  horseback,  to  reach  the  western 
bank  of  the  Wisconsin  River,  a  second  time.  The  first  thing 
to  be  done  in  his  estimation  was  to  learn  something  of  the 
difficult  dialect  of  the  Winnebagos,  but  as  his  progress  was 
too  slow,  he  secured  the  assistance  of  a  Catholic  Indian, 
named  Michael,  and  of  others  who  had  learned  the  prayers 
which  Reverend  Father  Baraga  had  printed  in  the  Ottawa 
language.  He  then  applied  himself  to  translating  these  prayers 
into  the  Winnebago  dialect.  The  language  of  the  Ottawas 
and  Chippewas  is  especially  rich  in  compound  words,  suitable 
for  expressing  Religious  ideas  and  particularly  the  mysteries 

*  This  was  the  Diocese  of  Cincinnati,  of  which  Rev.  Frederic  Rese 
was  appointed  administrator  on  the  death  of  Bishop  Edward  Fenwick 
of  Cincinnati,  September,  1832  (page  83,  Memorie).  Rev.  F.  Rese  was 
consecrated  first  Bishop  of  Detroit,  October  6,  1833. 

r  981 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    99 

of  the  Faith.  This  useful  labor  had  been  begun  by  the  first 
missionaries  of  Canada  and  continued  by  the  holy  Priest  of 
the  Chippewas,  Father  Baraga. 

Several  of  the  Winnebagos  spoke  the  Chippewa  dialect; 
so  with  their  assistance,  not  without  much  difficulty  and  various 
errors,  were  translated  the  Acts  of  Faith,  Hope,  Charity  and 
Contrition,  the  Pater,  Ave,  Credo  and  several  hymns.  Trans- 
lating from  one  Indian  language  to  another  is  far  less  difficult 
than  translating  from  French  or  English  into  any  Indian  dia- 
lect ;  experience  proved  this  fact  to  him  who  was  making  the 
attempt,  for  the  simple  reason  that  the  languages  of  the  various 
North  American  tribes,  although  differing  somewhat,  are  in 
reality  of  one  family ;  however,  in  the  orthography  of  each 
word  the  simplest  use  of  the  letters  was  adopted,  giving  to 
each,  one  single  and  invariable  sound  and  omitting  diphthongs 
entirely.  Reading  this  alphabet  correctly  is  the  same  as  hav- 
ing a  sure  key  to  the  pronunciation. 

The  good  example  given  by  the  few  who  had  been  con- 
verted during  the  spring,  incited  many  others  to  come  to 
the  cabin  where  instructions  were  given  upon  the  principal 
truths  of  Faith.  The  children  were  the  first  to  learn  the 
prayers,  the  Priest  repeating  each,  until  the  children  could 
say  them  without  help ;  the  adults  were  present  at  these  meet- 
ings, and  were  delighted  to  see  their  children  preparing  to 
become  Christians,  or  as  they  express  it,  to  be  consecrated  to 
prayer.  As  a  further  means  of  increasing  the  spirit  of  devo- 
tion, more  and  more  in  their  hearts,  they  remained  kneeling 
while  learning  their  prayers  and  the  Missionary  was  very 
often  obliged  to  show  them  how  to  kneel  down,  for  they 
found  this  an  entirely  new  posture.  Those  who  knew  the  melo- 
dies of  the  hymns  translated  from  Ottawa  into  Winnebago, 
sang  them  in  this  language ;  they  were  assisted  by  the  young 
men,  highly  delighted  at  finding  themselves  so  soon  raised  to 
the  rank  of  choristers  to  the  public.  In  three  weeks,  more  than 
fifty  Indians  were  judged  to  be  in  suitable  dispositions  for 
receiving  Baptism.  The  Sacrament  was  conferred  with  great 
solemnity  before  Mass  on  Sunday.     On  this  important  occa- 


100    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

sion  Mr.  P.  Paquette,  Government  interpreter,  translated  into 
the  Winnebago  language  the  long  instruction  made  by  the 
Priest  to  the  newly  baptized  converts. 

A  few  observations  upon  the  new  Christians  may  serve  to 
edify  our  readers.  An  Indian  chief  called  Decari,  who  took 
the  name  of  John  in  Baptism,  had  two  wives,  polygamy  being 
commonly  practised  in  the  tribe.  The  Priest  having  taught 
him  that  according  to  the  Law  of  Jesus  Christ  he  could  keep 
but  one  wife,  the  husband  replied  that  he  was  willing  to  give 
up  one, — but  had  no  choice  between  the  two.  The  wife  who 
had  no  children  came  privately  to  the  Missionary  with  the 
proposal  that  as  the  other  wife  was  the  mother  of  a  little 
boy,  and  was  of  a  somewhat  dissatisfied  temperament,  it 
would  be  more  prudent  to  leave  the  latter  with  the  husband 
so  as  to  put  no  obstacle  in  the  way  of  her  conversion.  So  our 
worthy  John  was  married  to  the  mother,  although  the  other 
had  been  his  first  choice  and  more  worthy  of  affection.  A  few 
months  afterwards  Providence  called  the  mother  out  of  life ; 
then  the  husband  and  son  fell  as  prize  to  the  generous  woman 
who  with  brave  unselfishness  had  heroically  separated  herself 
from  her  husband  for  the  sake  of  Religion.  This  zealous 
family  is  still  living  full  of  faith  and  hope  in  the  happiness 
of  the  life  hereafter. 

While  the  Priest  was  preparing  to  administer  the  Sacra- 
ment of  Baptism  to  a  great  number  of  Indians,  one  of  them 
called  "The  Little  Prophet"  cast  off  the  woolen  blanket  in 
which  he  had  been  wrapped  and  threw  it  far  away ;  being 
asked  the  motive  of  this  singular  behaviour,  he  answered 
that  thus  he  desired  to  show  his  sincerity,  in  utterly  despoil- 
ing himself  of  all  his  evil  ways  and  becoming  a  new  man. 
This  was  the  fruit  of  the  familiar  instructions.  This  Indian 
had  comprehended  the  true  meaning  of  the  change  which 
Faith  in  Christ  should  operate  in  the  soul,  that  is,  that  change 
which  makes  us  live  by  the  spirit  and  die  to  whatever  is  carnal 
and  sinful.  All  Christians  are  acquainted  with  this  doctrine, 
but  few  indeed  cast  far  away  the  mantle  of  their  vices  as  did 
this  poor  savage. 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    101 

Among  the  most  fervent  souls  converted  to  the  Faith  was 
the  daughter  of  the  chief  of  the  tribe;  at  Baptism  she  took 
the  name  Agatha.  She  was  a  maiden  of  singular  modesty, 
always  occupied  with  her  work ;  she  was  the  best  beloved 
child  of  the  old  chief,  her  father;  she  was  first  in  attendance 
at  every  Religious  duty,  and  was  a  model  to  all  the  maidens 
of  the  tribe.  She  was  afterwards  married  to  a  young  Cana- 
dian, but  died  soon  after  in  sentiments  of  true  piety,  while 
recommending  her  soul  to  Almighty  God. 

The  new  Christians  had  already  increased  to  the  number 
of  two  hundred  when  the  Missionary  left  by  way  of  the  Wis- 
consin River  for  the  city  of  Detroit,  about  six  hundred  miles 
distant.  This  journey  was  for  the  purpose  of  having  the  few 
things  printed  which  had  been  translated  into  Winnebago. 
These  form  a  little  work  of  eighteen  pages,  in  small  octavo, 
containing  an  Act  of  Adoration  and  of  Consecration  to  God. 
the  Acts  of  Faith,  Hope,  Charity  and  Contrition,  the  Pater 
Noster,  the  Ave  Maria,  the  Credo,  the  Confiteor,  Act  of  Firm 
Purpose  of  Amendment,  the  Ten  Commandments,  the  Pre- 
cepts of  the  Church,  a  Hymn  calling  the  Sinner  to  Repentance, 
an  Invocation  to  the  Holy  Ghost,  a  Hymn  to  the  Holy 
Eucharist,  an  Invocation  to  Jesus,  and  a  Hymn  to  Mary : 
added  to  these,  in  a  very  few  words,  the  principal  Truths  of 
Faith  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue,  lastly  the  alphabet,  and  the 
mode  of  reckoning.  The  little  book  was  entitled  "ocangra 
aramee  wawakakara,"  that  is,  "Winnebago  Prayer  Book." 
Detroit,  1833. 

To  facilitate  the  conversion  of  this  tribe  the  Priest  had 
brought  with  him  to  Green  Bay,  two  Winnebago  youths  about 
fourteen  years  of  age.  His  intention  was  to  have  them  trained 
in  a  Catholic  household,  to  render  them  able  to  teach  reading 
and  writing  in  their  own  language,  and  in  this  manner,  impart 
the  Truths  of  Catholicity  to  their  own  tribe.  But  having  no 
means  to  pay  their  expenses,  he  was  forced  after  three  months 
to  let  them  return  to  their  own  country.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  a  few  years  at  school  would  have  produced  the  most  salu- 
tary results  in  these  two  well-disposed  Winnebago  youths. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

THE  DIOCESE  OF  CINCINNATI  IS  DIVIDED— THE 
MISSIONARY  IS  SENT  TO  GREEN  BAY— THE 
INDIANS  OF  THE  MENOMINEE  TRIBE  AT 
CHURCH,  WHERE  THEY  SING  AND  RECEIVE 
INSTRUCTIONS  THROUGH  AN  INTERPRE- 
TER. 

In  the  summer  of  1833  tne  immense  Diocese  of  Cincinnati 
was  divided  by  the  Holy  See,  a  new  Diocese  being  created  of 
the  Territory  of  Michigan,  which  at  that  time  embraced  the 
present  Territory  of  Wisconsin.  The  thickly  settled  State  of 
Ohio  remained  to  the  Bishop  of  Cincinnati.  The  city  of 
Detroit,  which  counted  at  that  period  about  six  thousand  in- 
habitants, became  the  Episcopal  Seat  of  Michigan,  which  the 
Right  Reverend  Frederic  Rese  was  appointed  to  occupy.  This 
new  order  of  things  led  the  Vicar  Provincial  of  the  Order  of 
Saint  Dominic  in  Ohio,  to  hope  that  he  might  be  able  to  recall 
our  Missionary  to  that  State.  The  latter  having  reached 
Detroit  for  the  purpose  of  having  the  prayers  printed  which 
had  been  translated  into  Winnebago,  wished  to  continue  his 
journey  and  thus  carry  out  the  wishes  of  his  Brother  in  the 
Order.  But  the  Bishop  elect  with  determined  will  opposed 
this  plan  and  desired  the  Priest  to  return  to  his  Missions, 
requiring  him  besides  to  preach  in  his  Cathedral  every  Sunday 
in  October,  in  the  morning  to  preach  in  French,  at  Vespers 
in  English. 

On  the  evening  of  All  Saints  Day  he  left  the  city  of  Detroit 
in  a  little  barque  which  was  to  sail  for  Green  Bay,  his  destina- 
tion for  the  winter.  The  Bishop-elect  had  arranged  that  one 
of  the  two  Redemptorist  Fathers  of  that  place  should  go  as 
Missionary  to  Arbre-Croche  to  take  the  place  of  the  worthy 

f  T02] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    103 

Father  Baraga,  who  had  just  left  for  the  new  Mission  on  Lake 
Superior.  The  other  Redemptorist  Father  had  already  been 
appointed  as  Pastor  over  the  parish  of  Mackinac.  Truly  was 
that  a  long  and  tempestuous  transit  over  Lakes  Huron  and 
Michigan.  Although  the  Missionary  had  set  sail  from  Detroit 
on  the  first  day  of  November,  yet  contrary  winds,  snowfalls 
and  intense  cold  did  not  allow  his  reaching  Green  Bay  until 
the  twenty-second  of  the  month. 

Two  nuns  of  the  Order  of  Saint  Claire  had  also  gone  to 
that  place  in  order  to  open  a  school  for  girls  in  a  building 
bought  for  that  purpose  by  their  Order ;  the  example  of  these 
Sisters  was  a  source  of  great  edification  to  the  Catholics  of 
the  Mission. 

In  the  course  of  that  long  winter  the  Priest  devoted  him- 
self to  the  instruction  of  the  French  inhabitants,  many  of 
whom  were  still  indifferent  to  the  Truth.  Services  were  regu- 
larly held  in  the  Church,  and  since  there  was  but  one  Priest, 
he  celebrated  two  Masses  every  Sunday  and  Festival  Day ; 
this  was  necessitated  by  the  fact  that  there  was  not  room 
enough  in  the  Church  to  accommodate  all  the  Catholics  if 
they  were  to  come  at  the  same  hour. 

The  holy  Festival  of  Easter  was  celebrated  with  the  Holy 
Communion  of  almost  all  the  Catholics  of  the  place,  and  also 
of  that  of  a  Protestant  young  man,  who,  having  become  con- 
vinced of  the  obligation  of  satisfying  Divine  Justice  by  works 
of  penance,  and  particularly  by  that  of  fasting,  commanded 
in  both  the  Old  Testament  and  the  New,  had  become  a 
Catholic  during  Lent. 

The  principal  motive  which  had  determined  the  Bishop- 
elect  to  send  our  Missionary  into  that  part  of  his  Diocese,  was 
the  conversion  of  the  Menominee  tribe  to  the  holy  Faith ; 
therefore  something  must  be  said  of  what  our  Lord  wrought 
for  their  salvation.  One  of  the  most  efficacious  means  of  in- 
spiring the  savages  with  the  truth  of  Christianity  is  the  Divine 
Service ;  children  of  nature  as  they  are,  they  believe  in  the 
great  necessity  of  a  Sacrifice,  but  deprived  of  the  light  of 
Revelation,  in  their  ignorance  they  follow  many  superstitious 


104    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

practices.  The  Catholic  Church  with  her  altar,  her  Priests, 
sacred  vestments,  lights,  canticles  and  all  the  other  appur- 
tenances of  external  worship,  convinces  them  that  all  is  done 
for  the  honor  and  adoration  of  the  Great  Spirit ;  and  then 
they  desire  to  become  acquainted  with  that  Religion  which  by 
just  such  acts  speaks  to  the  Deity.  To  foster  these  favorable 
dispositions  among  the  Menominees,  the  Missionary  recom- 
mended that  the  Christians  among  them  should  come  to  the 
Church  on  Holy  Days,  suitably  clad,  and  show  by  their  bear- 
ing that  they  truly  believed  that  they  were  in  the  House  of 
God.  During  the  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass  they  sang  hymns 
in  their  own  tongue  to  the  accompaniment  of  a  small  organ 
played  by  a  Catholic  German  who  was  band-master  in  the 
United  States  Fort  there  stationed.  These  hymns  containing 
the  doctrine  of  the  Most  Holy  Sacrament  and  the  other 
Truths  of  Faith,  accompanied  by  fervent  aspirations,  did  not 
fail  to  produce  most  salutary  effects.  The  psalms  for  Ves- 
pers were  chanted,  one  verse  in  Latin,  the  second  in  the 
Indian  tongue,  and  so  on  alternately,  like  the  hymns,  and  with 
the  organ  accompaniment.  While  the  novelty  of  all  this 
delighted  them  exceedingly,  it  roused  the  devotion  of  these 
poor  Menominees  in  a  striking  manner;  they  considered  it  a 
great  happiness  to  be  allowed  to  sing  the  praises  of  the  Lord 
in  His  own  Temple.  Vesper  Service  on  Holy  Days  was 
especially  consecrated  to  the  instruction  of  the  Indians;  after 
an  explanation  of  the  Catechism  given  to  the  French  portion 
of  the  congregation,  the  latter  withdrew  from  the  benches, 
to  give  place  to  the  Christian  Indians,  and  also  to  the  well 
disposed  pagans  who  were  often  in  attendance.  First  came 
the  intoning  of  a  hymn  to  the  Holy  Ghost,  another, 
suitable  for  disposing  their  hearts  for  the  reception  of  the 
Word  of  Life ;  a  hundred  and  fifty,  often  two  hundred  sav- 
ages, united  in  the  canticle,  imploring  the  Divine  assistance. 
At  the  close  of  the  hymn  the  interpreter  took  his  stand  be- 
tween the  Communion  rail  and  the  people ;  the  Priest,  standing 
in  the  Sanctuary,  began  his  instructions.  To  facilitate  the 
translation  of  what  he  wished  to  say,  he  expressed  but  one, 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O..P.    105 

perhaps  two  or  three,  ideas  at  once,  according  to  the  ability 
of  the  interpreter  to  fully  comprehend  what  had  been  said  in 
French,  and  to  convey  its  meaning  in  the  language  of  the 
savages.  The  sermon  carried  on  in  this  manner  occupied  a 
long  time,  but  it  attained  its  object  whenever  the  interpreter 
understanding  fully  the  subject  of  discourse  communicated 
it  well  and  zealously  to  his  hearers.  Experience  has  taught 
that  the  difficulty  of  expressing  the  Truths  of  Faith  in  the 
meagre  language  of  the  savages  explains  the  extreme  rarity 
of  good  interpreters.  Long  practice  alone  can  secure  that 
necessary  facility  which  can  render  the  very  translated  word 
itself  eloquent  and  full  of  unction.  In  case  of  a  poor  inter- 
preter one  can  only  trust  that  a  yet  more  abundant  gift  of 
grace  may  supply  this  deficiency. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

CONFESSIONS  THROUGH  AN  INTERPRETER. 

In  January  in  the  year  1834,  the  number  of  the  Menominee 
Indians  converted  to  Christianity,  including  those  received 
by  the  two  Redemptorist  Fathers,  was  more  than  six  hundred ; 
but  not  all  of  these  lived  in  the  vicinity  of  Green  Bay,  so  a 
number  of  them  could  not  often  come  to  the  Church.  About 
two  hundred  and  fifty  of  these  were  regular  communicants, 
who  received  the  Most  Blessed  Sacrament  almost  every 
month.  The  reader  may  desire  to  know  how  the  Priest  re- 
ceived the  confessions  of  penitents  with  whom  he  could  not 
establish  direct  communication,  from  his  ignorance  of  their 
language. 

Although  Confession  is  an  inviolable  secret  for  the  con- 
fessor, it  is  not  so  for  the  penitent  who  can  make  use  of  the 
services  of  an  interpreter  in  the  accusation  of  his  faults,  if 
there  is  a  necessity.  This  is  the  case  of  an  Indian  with  whose 
language  the  Confessor  is  unacquainted.  The  interpreter, 
whether  man  or  woman,  is  generally  selected  by  the  penitent, 
but  must  always  be  a  person  of  piety  and  mature  years  as 
possible.  The  circumstances  of  place  and  of  the  penitents 
themselves  govern  their  selection,  yet  they  are  often  deprived 
of  making  a  choice,  in  the  event  of  only  one  interpreter  being 
at  hand,  which  circumstance,  however,  proves  no  obstacle  in 
their  eyes. 

Many  of  the  poor  Canadians  employed  in  the  business  of 
trading  with  the  Indians  have  married  with  the  women  of 
these  tribes ;  the  children  of  these  marriages  for  the  most  part 
are  better  acquainted  with  the  mother's  language  than  with 
French,  and  when  baptized  Catholics,  in  time  serve  as  good 
interpreters.     The  Menominees,  of  whom  in  1833  there  were 

[106] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    107 

about  two  thousand  five  hundred  individuals,  had  contracted 
many  more  of  these  intermarriages  with  the  French  of  the 
country  than  the  other  tribes,  and  consequently  the  influence 
of  Religion  and  facility  in  finding  interpreters  was  in  pro- 
portion. Few,  however,  possessed  the  ability  and  piety  indis- 
pensable to  one  who  would  serve  as  interpreter  in  the  case  of 
Sacramental  Confession  and  of  Religious  Instruction. 

The  Interpreter  was  under  the  obligation  of  holding  the 
secret  of  the  Confessional  inviolable  and  in  the  same  degree  as 
was  the  Priest.  A  suitable  place  for  Confessions  thus  per- 
formed was  seldom  to  be  found  in  the  Church ;  so  usually  a 
room  apart,  or  the  Sacristy,  was  employed  for  the  purpose. 
The  penitent  knelt  with  his  face  to  the  wall,  between  the 
Confessor  and  the  interpreter,  the  latter  repeating  in  French 
what  the  penitent  wished  to  say,  and  translating  into  the  peni- 
tent's language,  as  well  as  he  could,  what  the  Priest  desired  to 
communicate  to  him.  This  mode,  as  any  one  can  see,  required 
much  time,  since  everything  had  to  be  expressed  twice.  It 
belonged  to  the  Missionary,  therefore,  to  instruct  the  Chris- 
tians how  to  make  Confession  in  the  simplest,  humblest  and 
clearest  manner,  the  most  suitable  means  of  rendering  the 
accusation  more  expeditious,  while  it  is  also  the  most  meri- 
torious. So  was  avoided  all  that  excessive  and  useless  super- 
abundance of  words,  which  not  rarely  is  a  culpable  abuse  of 
the  Sacrament  and  waste  of  the  precious  time  of  him  who  is 
its  minister. 

Experience  of  the  effects  of  the  holy  Sacrament  of  Pen- 
ance among  the  savage  tribes  has  given  to  one  long  practiced 
therein,  the  conclusive  proof  that  Catholicity  can  in  a  very  brief 
time  teach  them  all  Christian  morality,  and  that  they  are  not 
inferior  in  the  least  degree  to  the  other  nations  in  the  world 
as  to  the  knowledge  of  good  or  of  evil.  Amid  the  ignorance 
of  human  arts  and  sciences  there  is  ever  in  the  depth  of  their 
hearts  that  secret,  but  infallible  voice  which  tells  them  that 
they  are  guilty  before  God  of  the  evil  that  they  commit,  even 
before  becoming  Christians.  The  morality  of  the  Gospel  only 
illumines,  enforces,  wisely  applies  that  same  law  already  im- 


108    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

printed  upon  the  soul  endowed  with  reason,  and  by  which  the 
pagans  themselves  shall  be  judged. 

Guided  by  the  dictates  of  conscience,  the  Indians  recog- 
nize Confession  as  the  most  natural  effect  of  a  true  repent- 
ance. Confessing  to  a  man  holding  the  place  of  an  offended 
God  was  a  wise  mercy,  facilitating  the  accusation  itself,  and 
the  healing  correction  of  the  fault.  But  the  foolish  wisdom  of 
our  modern  religionaires,  with  the  approbation  of  false  phil- 
osophers, adduce  a  mass  of  arguments  against  the  practice 
of  acknowledging  one's  faults ;  and  in  this  very  act  in  which 
they  vaunt  themselves  as  promoters  of  a  man's  happiness, 
they  teach  him  to  reject  as  useless  and  superstitious  the  remedy 
most  efficacious  to  cure  the  spiritual  wounds  which  are  the 
primary  cause  of  his  unhappiness. 

Saturday  was  the  appointed  day  for  Confession  among 
these  Indians,  and  it  should  be  recorded  to  the  honor  of 
Religion,  that  their  general  bearing  and  appearance  on  such 
occasions  proved  that  interior  penitence  and  humility,  which 
should  accompany  the  faithful  to  that  throne  of  Divine  Mercy 
in  the  Sacrament  of  Reconciliation.  The  words  of  the  Priest 
were  heard  and  received  with  fullest  confidence ;  to  him  they 
expressed  every  doubt  as  to  an  adviser  most  capable  and  dis- 
interested, and  thus  these  simple  Christians,  truly  the  "poor 
in  spirit,"  were  enabled  to  make  use  of  all  the  illuminations 
of  the  Priesthood,  on  critical  occasions.  And  this  shows 
forth  with  greater  splendor  the  superiority  and  perfection  of 
the  true  Faith,  pouring  out  the  treasures  of  heavenly  wisdom 
upon  the  souls  of  the  rudest,  and  dispelling  the  darkness  of 
ignorance.  When  would  the  wise  men  of  our  day  devise  a 
means  like  that  of  Sacramental  Confession  so  wonderfully 
adapted  to  point  out  to  every  branch  of  society  and  to  the 
barbarians  even,  the  straight  path  to  virtue,  to  order,  to  hap- 
piness, without  the  help  of  book  or  of  that  human  science 
of  which  these  poor  children  of  nature  are  ignorant?  Here 
in  Confession  is  one  proof  only  of  the  blessed  power  of  Cath- 
olic Doctrine  above  all  the  inert  and  clamorous  pretensions  of 
so-called  philanthropy. 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    109 

But  to  make  Confession  through  an  interpreter,  will  be 
declared  a  sacrifice  too  great  for  the  human  heart.  There 
are  two  reasons  that  persuade  the  Indians  to  this;  the  first  is 
their  faith  in  the  general  judgment  when  the  iniquities  of  the 
reprobates  shall  be  made  known  to  all  men  by  the  Just  Judge ; 
again  to  avoid  such  a  misfortune  they  believe  it  better  to  con- 
fess one's  faults  before  two  persons  than  to  be  compelled  to 
make  them  known  to  the  whole  universe.  A  wise  resolution 
suggested  by  lively  faith.  Another  reason  for  the  Indian's 
submission  in  this  case  is  the  benefit  derived  from  the  Sacra- 
ment itself,  and  the  salutary  advice  that  they  desire  to  receive 
in  doubtful  or  dangerous  crises.  Surely  it  must  be  that 
Almighty  God  grants  to  these  "poor  in  spirit"  a  more  abundant 
and  special  grace,  with  a  forgiveness  the  more  efficacious  be- 
cause preceded  by  a  greater  humiliation.  The  conduct  of 
those  who  seek  the  saving  Sacrament  in  the  manner  of  these 
poor  Indians  is  in  striking  contrast  with  that  of  those  deli- 
cate, timid,  exceedingly  cautious  Christians,  who  with  great 
difficulty  and  after  long  delays,  at  last  find  an  "Extraor- 
dinary," to  whom  reluctantly  they  may  make  a  Confession 
none  too  sincere. 

Whether  the  Catholic  Indian  is  rigorously  bound  to  make 
his  private  Confession  thus  through  an  interpreter,  we  shall 
not  undertake  to  discuss  here.  The  fact  alone  remains  that 
he  follows  the  safest  path  in  his  estimation,  and  so  doing, 
feels  bound  to  all  this,  by  submitting  with  unbounded  sim- 
plicity and  confidence  to  the  Infinite  Mercy. 

The  Missionary  did  not  devote  himself  exclusively  to  the 
study  of  the  Indian  dialects  for  two  reasons:  one  was  that 
he  had  been  assigned  to  this  region  only  as  a  provisionary 
arrangement  while  waiting  until  the  Bishop  could  find  other 
Priests  who  were  to  devote  themselves  exclusively  to  this 
meritorious  work;  another  reason  was  the  ceaseless  labors  in 
the  sacred  ministry  among  the  Canadians  and  Americans 
of  English  descent  scattered  over  a  vast  extent  of  country 
who  had  been  strictly  confided  to  his  pastoral  care. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

HOLY  COMMUNION 

In  order  to  confound  the  unbelief  of  those  men  who 
through  contempt  or  pride  will  not  recognize  in  the  Most 
Holy  Sacrament  of  the  Eucharist  the  hidden  Divinity  of  the 
Word  become  incarnate  to  make  us  participators  in  Its 
own  Essence,  the  Lord  revealed  to  the  simple  the  incompara- 
ble Truth  of  this  Institution  of  the  Last  Supper.  Although 
the  Indian  tongue  lends  itself  with  difficulty  to  the  expression 
of  the  Religious  ideas  associated  with  so  great  a  Mystery,  yet 
the  light  of  Faith  shines  out  in  them  with  such  radiance  that 
they  comprehend  the  full  doctrine  of  the  Real  Presence  of 
Christ  in  the  most  Blessed  Sacrament.  Docile  to  the  Divine 
Word  in  which  they  trust,  they  are  not  searching  out  the 
possibility  of  the  mysterious  change  with  vain  questionings ; 
but  humbly  they  adore,  because  Jesus  Christ  declared  that 
the  bread  which  He  would  give  as  food  was  truly  His  Flesh, 
and  the  wine  which  He  would  give  them  to  drink  was  in 
very  truth  His  Blood.  Often  was  the  Missionary,  seeing  the 
Menominees  in  great  numbers  drawing  near  the  Holy  Table, 
constrained  to  meditate  on  the  Divine  Goodness  and  just 
predilection  of  the  Messias  Who  was  thus  manifesting  Himself 
to  the  poor  and  simple.  The  multitude  who  followed  Him 
into  the  desert  and  the  children  who  once  proclaimed  Him 
the  Son  of  God  at  the  very  time  when  the  learned  in  the  law 
were  plotting  His  Death,  are  this  day  as  well,  the  proof  that 
human  wisdom  and  prudence  are  insufficient  and  mistaken ; 
while  it  pleases  the  Father  Almighty  to  reveal  the  sublimest 
works  of  Redemption  to  the  weak  and  the  ignorant. 

It  was  a  consolation  to  a  Christian  heart  to  see  thirty  or 
forty  of  the  poor  natives  surrounding  the  Sanctuary,  in  order 

[no] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    Ill 

to  receive  at  the  Banquet  of  Christ  under  the  Sacramental 
veil  that  precious  Body  and  Blood,  the  Price  of  man's  salva- 
tion. The  devotion  and  modesty  of  exterior  which  marked 
their  approach  to  the  Eucharistic  Feast,  might  serve  as  a 
model  to  the  most  fervent  of  Christians.  The  frequent  recep- 
tion of  the  Holy  Mysteries,  followed  as  it  was  by  an  im- 
provement in  general  conduct  and  by  a  great  increase  of 
fervor,  clearly  manifested  the  Truth  and  Divinity  of  that 
Bread  which  produced  wondrous  fruits  of  life  eternal.  It 
was  not  easy  to  explain  how  a  roving  savage,  addicted  to 
drunkenness  and  other  vices,  sunk  in  superstitious  practices 
without  any  clear  idea  of  a  Deity  or  of  his  own  nature,  could 
within  the  space  of  one  or  two  months,  without  the  assistance 
of  any  training  except  the  simple  words  of  a  Priest  and 
through  the  medium  of  an  interpreter,  come  to  believe  in  all 
the  sublime  mysteries  of  Religion,  and  to  prostrate  himself 
in  all  humility,  adoring  His  Creator  and  Redeemer  under  the 
appearance  of  the  Eucharistic  Bread.  Yet  this  wonderful 
transformation  was  wrought  among  them,  under  the  eyes  of 
many  witnesses  who  could  only  look  upon  it  as  the  work  of 
the  Most  High. 

The  Missionary  on  entering  the  Church  one  day  found 
there  one  of  the  head  chiefs  of  the  Menominee  tribe,  whose 
name  was  Ajamita;  he  was  alone,  kneeling  upright  before 
the  Blessed  Sacrament,  seeming  to  see  nought  else  but  his 
beloved  Jesus.  The  Priest  stood  still  to  watch  the  venerable 
old  chief,  and  could  not  but  feel  moved  not  only  by  his  piety 
but  more  by  the  thorough  conviction  that  the  Indian  felt  in 
his  heart  that  flame  of  love  that  Faith  enkindles  for  the  Real 
Presence  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the  Blessed  Sacrament.  Who  at 
such  a  moment  could  refrain  from  giving  thanks  to  God  for 
this  outpouring  of  Light  Divine  into  the  soul  of  a  man  whom 
the  world  would  call  rude  and  ignorant? 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

VISITS  TO  THE  INDIANS  ON  THEIR  FISHING  VOY- 
AGES—CIRCUMSTANCES CONNECTED  WITH 
THE  CONVERSION  OF  MANY  INDIANS  IN 
1834. 

The  Church  was  the  appointed  place  in  which  the  Chris- 
tians and  those  preparing  for  Baptism  used  to  receive  instruc- 
tions, but  the  Pagans  hostile  to  Religion  rarely  came  there  to 
listen  to  the  Truth.  The  conversion  of  these,  therefore,  had 
to  be  wrought  in  their  own  wigwams,  by  means  of  the  pres- 
ence and  exhortations  of  the  Missionary  himself ;  without 
following  this  method  one  sees  little  inclination  in  them  to- 
wards Catholicity.  In  truth,  it  is  not  the  lost  sheep  who  runs 
after  the  shepherd,  it  is  rather  the  shepherd  who  runs  to  and 
fro  in  search  of  the  lost  one  to  bring  it  back  to  the  fold. 
Now  must  be  noted  many  visits  made  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Green  Bay  in  the  early  months  of  1834,  because  they  were 
most  efficacious  in  bringing  about  many  conversions. 

The  ice  had  formed  a  very  solid  bridge  over  that  inlet 
of  Lake  Michigan  which  also  bears  the  name  of  Green  Bay, 
and  which  extends  from  ten  to  twenty  miles  in  breadth  and 
ninety  in  length.  The  savages  occupy  themselves  in  winter, 
fishing  for  sturgeon ;  they  make  a  hole  in  the  ice  about  a  yard 
across,  and  let  down  by  a  cord  a  little  wooden  fish  which 
they  keep  playing  back  and  forth ;  stretched  at  full  length 
with  head  over  the  hole  and  under  cover  the  better  to  see 
under  the  ice,  they  watch  for  the  sturgeon  as  he  makes  for 
the  little  fish ;  then  the  Indian  expertly  spears  the  sturgeon 
with  a  barb  fastened  to  a  pole.  Many  derive  subsistence 
almost  entirely  from  this  in  winter. 

The  Priest  went  in  a  sledge  to  visit  these  savages,  a  very 

[112] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    113 

few  of  whom  were  Catholics.  Going  from  hut  to  hut,  he 
exhorted  them  through  the  interpreter  to  become  Christians, 
on  the  grounds  that  their  faith  in  sacrifices  and  superstitious 
practices  could  obtain  no  benefit  in  this  life,  and  that  from 
these  they  did  not  themselves  believe  they  could  obtain  the 
least  happiness  after  death.  He  explained  to  the  simple  and 
well  disposed  pagans  that  Christianity  alone  gives  true  con- 
solation in  this  world,  and  that  its  chief  object  is  to  enjoy 
after  death  the  companionship  of  the  Great  and  Good 
Spirit  to  whom  they  sometimes  offered  sacrifices.  As  they 
have  an  idea  also  of  the  evil  spirit,  or  demon,  the  Missionary 
made  use  of  this  to  convince  them  of  the  power  of  the  Chris- 
tian Religion  in  overcoming  the  malice  of  the  evil  spirits 
whom  they  fear.  The  example  of  the  Menominee  Christians 
also  furnished  a  very  powerful  argument  in  defense  of  the 
truth.  These  poor  heathens,  reduced  to  the  extremity  of 
misery  by  trading  or  by  their  own  profligacy,  especially  in  the 
winter,  often  used  to  envy  the  lot  of  the  Christians,  who 
were  leading  more  comfortable  lives  with  food  to  eat,  and 
better  protected  from  the  cold.  Religion,  then,  producing 
such  happy  effects  even  in  this  life,  ameliorating  their  poor 
condition  so  greatly,  gave  the  Priest  very  many  proofs  that 
appealed  to  the  simple  natures  and  ended  in  completely  silen- 
cing even  the  most  obstinate.  Visiting  twenty  or  thirty  fami- 
lies in  this  way,  the  seeds  of  conversions  were  sown :  these 
were  not  always  wrought  at  once,  for  many  who  were  per- 
suaded of  the  truth  and  contemplated  conversion  to  Chris- 
tianity, seldom  spoke  of  it  on  such  occasions.  But  after  sev- 
eral weeks  or  sometimes  even  months,  they  used  to  go  to  the 
Christian  Indians  to  learn  the  catechism,  the  prayers,  and  at 
last  would  present  themselves  for  Baptism.  This  was  the 
usual  mode  of  conversion  among  them.  The  Christian  In- 
dians were  in  truth  better  adapted  to  making  converts  and 
more  adventurous  than  the  Missionary  himself. 

The  following  circumstance  is  a  proof  of  this;  one 
evening  the  Priest  entered  a  wigwam  not  far  from  the  Lake 
and   found   there  an   Indian   woman   with  her  four  children. 


114    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

whose  faces  bore  the  signs  of  hunger  and  sadness.  A  little 
kettle  of  water  was  boiling  over  the  fire  and  the  mother  was 
stirring  in  it  not  more  than  a  handful  of  flour.  When  asked 
if  she  had  had  anything  to  eat,  "No,"  she  answered  sadly,  "for 
when  my  husband  catches  fish  the  Whites  (that  is,  people  of 
European  descent)  buy  it  from  him  even  against  his  will,  and 
pay  him  by  giving  him  brandy,  and  he  is  drunk  now ;  we  have 
not  seen  him  for  two  days,  and  we  are  now  wasted  with 
hunger;  this  is  our  last  handful  of  flour."  Our  compassion 
was  stirred  by  such  a  story  and  without  delay  we  opened  our 
basket  of  provisions  for  the  journey  and  urged  its  contents 
upon  the  poor  woman  and  her  children.  How  sweet  is  char- 
ity !  Words  could  not  express  the  consolation  afforded  him 
who  had  the  privilege  of  feeding  the  hungry ;  the  most 
sumptuous  banquets  could  not  be  compared  to  that  delicious 
feast  enjoyed  by  the  poor.  When  the  hungry  had  been  fed, 
Religion  became  the  subject  of  discourse.  It  found  no  dif- 
ficulties in  its  way,  for  it  had  been  preceded  by  charity.  A 
few  comforting  words  touched  the  tender  heart  of  a  mother, 
who  was  discovering  that  the  Christians'  Religion  was  the 
best  cure  for  all  ills.  On  the  next  Easter,  this  good  woman 
with  her  husband  and  children  was  baptized  in  the  Church  at 
Green  Bay. 

A  journey  round  the  shores  of  Lake  Winnebago  resulted 
greatly  to  the  advantage  of  the  cause  of  Religion.  This  Lake 
is  about  thirty  miles  from  the  Church,  and  as  it  abounds  in 
fish,  the  Menominees  remain  in  the  cold  season  near  the  Lake 
and  carry  on  their  sturgeon  fishing. 

The  Missionary  reached  the  Lake  after  some  hindrance 
and  crossing  the  ice  to  about  its  length,  which  is  about  thirty 
miles,  came  upon  the  site  where  many  families  of  the  uncon- 
verted Indians  had  pitched  their  wigwams  for  the  fishing 
season.  One  of  these,  about  forty  feet  in  length  and  contain- 
ing four  fire-places,  had  been  chosen  for  his  occupation;  the 
Indians  are  full  of  hospitality,  so  that  the  stranger  finds 
there  a  ready  reception.  More  than  thirty  persons  inhabited 
this  low  dwelling,  whose  walls  were  formed  of  mats.     His 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    115 

hosts  making  him  welcome,  the  Priest  sat  down  upon  a  fine 
mat,  and  the  exemplary  kindness  of  his  entertainers  had  a 
splendid  sturgeon  prepared  and  served  in  a  few  minutes,  fur- 
nishing a  delicious  meal.  The  interpreter  explained  to  the 
occupants  of  the  wigwam  and  to  many  others  gathered  there 
from  the  vicinity  through  curiosity,  the  object  of  the  Priest's 
coming.  He  then,  as  usual  in  like  circumstances,  with  all  the 
simplicity  of  conversation,  seated  on  the  ground  near 
the  fire,  with  various  arguments  was  exhorting  them  to  aban- 
don superstition  and  profligacy,  in  order  to  become  Christians 
and  thus  secure  everlasting  happiness.  Some  of  the  heathen 
Indians  made  objections  to  Religion  and  a  defense  of  their 
mode  of  propitiating  the  Great  Spirit,  of  banishing  the  evil 
spirit  and  of  curing  diseases  by  religious  incantations.  It 
proved  an  exceedingly  easy  matter  to  confute  the  feeble  rea- 
sonings of  the  ignorant,  but  a  zealous  Menominee  convert 
called  Michael,  who  had  come  with  the  Priest,  entered  upon 
a  hot  religious  discussion  with  the  heathens.  His  eloquence 
did  not  appear  to  promise  a  very  speedy  termination  of  the 
discourse,  whereupon  the  Missionary,  tired  out  with  his  long 
journey,  stretched  on  his  mat  under  his  blanket,  yielded  to  a 
sweet  sleep,  leaving  the  religious  disputants  to  the  heat  of 
their  arguments. 

Next  morning,  the  Priest  was  informed  that  Michael  had 
silenced  his  opponents,  proving  to  them  the  nothingness  of 
their  superstitions,  and  the  sanctity  of  the  Religion  of  Christ, 
but  that  some  of  them  offered  as  their  excuse  for  their  un- 
willingness to  become  Christians  that  it  would  oblige  them  to 
give  up  brandy  and  other  pleasures.  Here  is  the  true  reason 
openly  adduced  by  poor  savages,  but  even  uttered  interiorly 
in  the  heart  of  him  who  follows  .not  the  dictates  of  Religion. 
Believing  the  truths  of  Faith,  hoping  in  the  glory  to  come, 
and  loving  the  Maker  of  all  that  is  lovely,  are  in  themselves 
easy  to  mankind  but  they  are  irreconcilable  with  affection  for 
sinful  passions.  They  are  the  two  masters  whom  no  one  can 
in  any  way  serve  at  the  same  time. 

Among  the  many  subjects  discussed  by  the  Indians  the 


116    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

night  before  was  that  of  the  visit  of  the  Priest  to  their  poor 
wigwams,  as  they  said.  One  of  them  remarked  simply  that 
the  Missionary  had  come  from  Green  Bay  satisfied  to  eat 
what  little  they  had  to  offer  him  and  to  sleep  on  a  mat  as  they 
did  without  any  recompense.  "The  traders  when  they  come 
among  us  are  looking  for  gain,  buying  pelts  or  what  we  get 
at  our  fishing,"  added  he.  The  interpreter  explained  it  in 
this  way :  "You  see  him  so  satisfied  with  everything,  that  he 
may  make  you  children  of  the  Great  Spirit.  He  is  not  think- 
ing of  his  own  interests,  but  only  desires  and  longs  for  your 
good."  To  this  he  added,  that  the  ministers  of  the  other 
religions  did  not  expose  themselves  to  such  privations  with- 
out some  return,  while  the  Priest  was  living  for  charity  and 
was  ready  to  deprive  himself  of  what  belonged  to  him  rather 
than  take  anything  from  the  Indians  whom  he  was  instructing, 
as  was  plain  to  any  one. 

For  two  days  more  he  continued  visiting,  conversing  and 
reasoning  upon  Religious  subjects  with  the  Indians  at  their 
various  lodges ;  many  promised  to  become  Christians  when 
spring  should  come.  And  Almighty  God  so  blessed  this  little 
sojourn,  that  a  few  months  later  more  than  fifty  received  holy 
Baptism ;  on  one  Sunday  twenty-two  were  drawn  up  around 
the  altar  rail  in  order  to  enter  the  number  of  the  faithful 
through  means  of  this  Sacrament.  The  necessary  instruc- 
tions, that  is,  the  Catechism  and  the  principal  prayers,  as 
told  before  in  this  chapter,  had  been  taught  to  the  converts 
by  the  fervent  Christians  who  had  taken  it  upon  themselves 
to  repeat  it  all  until  their  pupils  knew  it  by  heart. 

These  short  visits  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Church  were 
often  made  not  only  during  the  fishing  season  in  winter, 
but  also  on  other  occasions,  as  when  the  people  were  mak- 
ing sugar  or  cultivating  corn  in  some  rich,  sheltered  patch 
of  land.  The  Menominees  made  a  great  quantity  of 
sugar  during  February  and  March  when  a  certain  species  of 
trees  begin  to  sprout.  Selecting  more  than  a  hundred  of 
these  trees,  they  make  an  incision  in  the  bark  in  which  they 
insert  a  slip  of  wood  so  as  to  make  the  juice  run  down  into  a 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    117 

vessel.  They  take  this  sweet  liquor  and  boil  it  down  until  the 
water  evaporates  and  the  substance  becomes  thick  and  syrup- 
like; this  is  then  stirred  constantly  until  it  cools,  when  it 
forms  sugar  in  small  dark  yellow  grains.  When  they  culti- 
vate the  earth  to  secure  a  little  corn  or  vegetables,  they  have 
to  keep  near  their  little  unfenced  fields  to  protect  them  from 
harm  from  the  animals,  either  domestic  or  wild.  At  these 
times  it  is  easy  to  find  many  families  only  a  little  distance 
apart ;  then  those  who  were  studying  catechism  or  prayers 
had  a  good  opportunity  for  meeting,  especially  at  evening. 
In  the  hunting  season,  as  in  autumn  and  part  of  the  winter, 
the  Indians  were  generally  scattered  here  and  there  in  the 
woods  or  along  the  river-banks,  and  it  would  be  exceedingly 
difficult  to  be  able  to  visit  them.  This  fact  is  mentioned  only 
to  give  an  idea  not  only  of  the  means,  but  also  of  the  season 
most  favorable  for  the  conversion  and  instruction  of  the  tribe. 


CHAPTER  XXV 

VIEW  OF  A  LODGE-CHURCH  BUILT  OF  MATS. 

He  Who  dwells  in  the  immensity  of  the  Heavens,  and 
delights  in  the  magnificence  and  splendor  of  external  wor- 
ship, when  it  is  the  sincere  expression  of  man's  love  for  his 
Creator,  with  no  less  delight  receives  the  rude  and  simple 
offerings  which  accompany  the  adoration  given  by  the  poor 
Indian.  The  Divine  Saviour  Who  preferred  a  wretched 
stable  to  the  palaces  of  the  great  is  the  same  Who  is  often 
pleased  to  dwell  in  a  hut.  The  sublime  Sacrifice  of  the  New 
Law  has  been  many  times  celebrated  on  an  altar  made  of 
bark,  within  a  Church  put  together  with  mats  in  an  hour. 
When  the  Missionary  visited  his  new  Christians,  he  preferred 
a  house,  although  it  might  be  small  and  very  poor,  of  one 
room  rudely  constructed  of  logs,  but  very  often  when  the 
savages  were  busied  at  the  fishing  round  one  of  the  Lakes,  or 
at  the  sugar-making  in  the  woods,  or  far  away  from  their 
usual  habitations  for  any  cause,  then  some  thought  had  to  be 
given  to  preparing  a  suitable  shelter  upon  the  very  spot,  in 
order  to  celebrate  holy  Mass. 

The  size  of  the  simple  improvised  Church  had  to  be  regu- 
lated by  the  number  who  were  to  assist  at  the  holy  Sacrifice : 
it  might  be  from  twenty  to  fifty  feet  long;  along  this  extent 
they  set  firmly  in  the  ground  slender  poles  eight  or  ten  feet 
long  and  about  four  feet  apart ;  the  upper  ends  of  these  were 
brought  over  from  the  sides  and  fastened,  thus  making  an 
arch.  The  whole  was  strengthened  and  held  firm  by  other 
small  poles  laid  horizontally  upon  those  set  in  the  ground. 
This  structure,  which  our  architects  called  the  "frame,"  was 
at  once  laid  over  with  a  goodly  number  of  mats,  leaving  two 
or  three  openings  in  the  roof  which  answered  very  well  for 

r  ixsi 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELL1,  O.  P.    119 

windows  and  also  for  letting  out  the  smoke  of  the  fire,  which 
was  built  inside  in  cold  weather.  The  door,  too,  consisted  of 
an  opening  two  feet  wide  by  four  high,  left  in  one  side  of  the 
building,  over  which  hung  a  small  mat  or  covering,  which 
served  as  a  good  door.  The  rich  marbles  of  Italy  were  not 
needed  for  a  pavement ;  that  was  perfectly  supplied  by  the 
green  grass  in  summer  and  by  the  hard  frozen  ground  in 
winter.  At  one  end  of  the  Church  four  timbers  were  firmly 
planted  in  the  ground,  whose  upper  ends  were  at  the  height 
of  an  altar ;  on  these  were  laid  two  or  even  four  other  beams, 
the  whole  forming  the  sides  of  the  altar.  Upon  this  were 
fitted  two  or  three  layers  of  hard  and  tough  bark  from  trees ; 
all  made  a  table  six  feet  long  and  two  wide ;  the  bark  was 
covered  with  one  of  the  best  mats,  and  lastly,  a  strip  of  linen 
or  cotton  which  served  as  an  altar-cloth.  When  candles  were 
to  be  had,  candle-sticks  were  quickly  made, — a  piece  of  bark 
cut  in  a  circle  about  half  a  foot  in  diameter,  forms  the  foot ; 
another  piece  rolled  into  a  cylinder  to  hold  the  candle  makes 
the  shaft,  this  fitted  into  the  first  and  the  candlestick  is  fin- 
ished. The  priestly  vestments  and  everything  else  necessary 
for  the  holy  Sacrifice  were  always  carried  with  him  by  the 
Missionary,  who  in  turn  was  always  mechanic,  workman  and 
cleric. 

In  this  church,  with  its  frail  walls  of  bark,  the  Indians  of 
the  Menominee  tribe  often  united  in  assisting  at  the  mys- 
teries of  Holy  Faith.  There  was  the  holy  Sacrament  of  Bap- 
tism received,  there  the  humble  Confession  made,  the  Holy 
Communions  administered  with  the  greatest  devotion,  and  the 
praises  of  God  sung  by  his  poor  children  in  their  own  tongue. 
The  complete  absence  of  that  sacred  magnificence  of  God's 
House  which  rouses  in  one's  heart  sentiments  of  adoration 
towards  God  was  compensated  for  by  that  lively  faith  and 
holy  fervor  which  was  the  happiness  of  these  poor  Christians 
in  the  poor  lodge  of  bark  where  their  Saviour  received  their 
fervent  prayers.  The  Missionary  cannot  recall  the  slightest 
instances  of  irreverence  in  these  gatherings ;  on  the  contrary, 
the   most  profound   recollection   which   made   one   remember 


120    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

the  holy  cells  of  the  faithful  of  the  Catacombs  in  the  early 
centuries. 

When  Divine  Service  was  over  for  that  time  and  place, 
the  lodge  Church  of  mats,  as  it  was  only  a  temporary  arrange- 
ment, was  dismantled  and  taken  apart  at  once,  and  each 
worshipper  carried  away  to  his  own  dwelling  the  materials 
which  he  had  employed  in  building  it.  This  circumstance  is 
a  real  and  beautiful  image  of  that  blessed  life  to  which  the 
followers  of  our  Blessed  Lord  will  bring  the  rich  gain  earned 
by  those  Christian  virtues  which  have  built  up  the  glorious 
spiritual  structure  of  the  Church  militant.  Let  us  also  hasten 
each  according  to  his  vocation  to  help  on  the  erection  of  that 
holy  Temple  of  Christ  on  earth ;  assured  of  becoming  one  day 
a  portion  of  that  heavenly  Jerusalem  symbolized  by  the 
earthly  city  of  God.  His  temple,  in  this  vale  of  tears. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

THE  ANGLICAN  MISSION  AT  GREEN  BAY  RE- 
CEIVES THE  SUM  OF  TWO  THOUSAND  ONE 
HUNDRED  DOLLARS,  IN  JUSTICE  DUE  TO 
THE  CATHOLIC  MISSION. 

During  the  spring  of  1834  the  number  of  Christian  Indians 
in  the  Green  Bay  Mission  exceeded  one  thousand;  this  fact 
led  our  Missionary  to  believe  that  he  could  easily  obtain  from 
the  Government  the  sum  usually  appropriated  to  the  educa- 
tion of  the  Menominees.  These  had  lately  sold  their  right 
over  a  portion  of  that  territory  in  which  they  were  living 
near  Green  Bay,  and  for  that  were  receiving  from  the  United 
States  Government  a  stipulated  sum  of  money,  besides  two 
thousand  one  hundred  dollars  for  the  education  of  their  chil- 
dren. Animated  with  the  hope  inspired  by  the  chiefs  of  the 
tribe,  the  Priest  somewhat  imprudently  began  the  building 
of  a  frame  house  large  enough  to  serve  exclusively  for  the 
instruction  of  the  Indians.  The  resident  agent  of  the  Gov- 
ernment, contrary  to  the  expressed  wish  of  the  Indians,  chose 
to  give  the  sum  above-mentioned  to  the  Protestant  Missions 
of  the  Anglican  sect,  who  already  possessed  not  far  from 
the  Catholic  Church,  a  large  and  commodious  building,  erected 
by  the  contributions  of  the  followers  of  their  sect  throughout 
the  United  States.  The  agent  himself,  the  Anglican  minis- 
ter, and  all  the  Protestants  of  the  vicinity  were  witnesses  that 
the  Menominees  had  not  become  Protestants,  but  Catholics ; 
on  Sunday  every  one  saw  them  making  their  way  to  the 
Catholic  Church  and  not  to  the  sectarian  meetings.  The  chiefs 
of  the  tribe  when  holding  councils  with  the  agent  had  clearly 
expressed  their  predilection  for  the  Catholic  Mission ;  more- 
over, public  opinion  was  to  the  effect  that  this  Religion  alone 

[121] 


122    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

had  the  power  by  its  influence  to  improve  the  intellectual  and 
moral  condition  of  the  savages ;  facts  abundantly  proved  this 
truth.  Notwithstanding  all  this,  the  Catholic  Mission  was 
defrauded  of  that  means  which  would  have  facilitated  the 
conversion  of  the  entire  tribe. 

It  would  be  entirely  wrong  to  attribute  so  great  an  in- 
justice to  the  laws  or  to  the  spirit  of  the  Government,  for 
this  is  absolutely  disconnected  with  any  religious  belief,  and 
it  protects  the  rights  of  individuals  of  any  religion  whatso- 
ever. The  wrong  always  lies  at  the  door  of  the  officials  to 
whom  is  entrusted  the  impartial  administration  of  business 
affairs.  In  our  case  it  was  contended  that  the  Protestant 
Mission  had  been  appointed  for  educating  the  savages  with 
their  consent,  and  that  the  yearly  sum  of  two  thousand  one 
hundred  dollars  ought  to  be  paid  to  them.  But  the  distances, 
the  one-sided  influence  of  officials,  according  to  the  opinion 
of  the  more  prudent,  rendered  any  effort  useless  for  remedy- 
ing so  unjust  a  distribution  of  that  money.  Notwithstanding 
their  pecuniary  assistance,  the  Anglican  Mission  could  not 
boast  of  having  wrought  any  conversions  among  the  Menomi- 
nee tribe ;  some  children  of  Canadian  fathers,  a  half  dozen 
of  really  native  Indians  at  times  were  supported  at  their 
Mission,  usually  for  the  sake  of  a  living,  and  on  some  occasions 
an  adult  of  that  tribe  pitched  his  temporary  dwelling  in  their 
neighborhood,  urged  to  this  step  as  the  public  well  knew, 
either  by  hunger  or  by  an  objection  to  earn  his  living  through 
his  own  industry.  And  yet  in  the  reports  submitted  to  print, 
the  sectarians  failed  not  to  boast  of  having  made  a  number 
of  proselytes  among  the  natives,  while  that  was  exclusively 
the  work  of   Catholicity. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

THE  FALSE  METHODS  OF  THE  PROTESTANTS  IN 
CONVERTING  SAVAGES. 

The  system  of  modern  sectarians  being  nought  else  but 
perversion  of  the  true  Religion  of  Christ,  finds  its  way  with 
difficulty  into  the  spirit  of  a  heathen ;  for  this  system  of  teach- 
ing Biblical  truth  presupposes  a  great  Catholic  truth,  that  is, 
the  divine  origin  of  the  Bible  itself,  which  can  rest  solidly 
upon  no  other  foundation  than  that  of  the  infallible  testimony 
of  the  Catholic  Church.  The  heathen  in  becoming  Prot- 
estant, according  to  the  fundamental  doctrine  of  the  sectar- 
ians, ought  not  to  believe  in  the  inspirations  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures  upon  the  simple  assertion  of  a  Church  or  of  a 
minister,  but  he  must,  rejecting  all  human  authority,  be  con- 
vinced by  means  of  his  own  private  examination  and  study 
that  the  Bible  is  truly  the  Word  of  God.  To  pretend  to  con- 
vert the  savages  to  Protestantism  by  obliging  them  to  a  private 
examination  of  the  truth  of  Scripture  and  of  the  doctrine 
contained  therein  would  be  a  veritable  chimera.  The  Catholic 
Missionary  never  had  the  good  luck  of  encountering  an  indi- 
vidual of  the  Menominee  tribe,  who,  after  reading  the  Holy 
Scripture,  had  become  a  Protestant.  Take  the  case  of  the 
adults  among  the  Indians,  especially  the  aged,  unaccustomed 
to  abstract  reasoning,  with  ideas  so  narrow  in  the  extreme, 
so  material,  so  simple,  how  could  they  learn  to  read  the  Gos- 
pel or  comprehend  its  expressions,  even  if  it  were  read  to 
them  in  their  own  language?  I  do  not  doubt  that  religious 
fanatics,  wise  in  the  privacy  of  their  closets,  with  the  help  of 
their  imagination,  have  discovered  the  possibility  of  such  in- 
telligence in  these  people.  But  he  who,  not  satisfied  with 
suppositious  cases,  tried  the  experiment,  was  convinced  that 

[123I 


124    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

such  plans  were  the  veriest  air-castles.  It  is  probable  that 
the  children  of  the  savages  with  the  help  of  some  education 
may  be  able  to  become  Protestants  in  the  broadest  sense ;  that 
is,  to  believe  in  the  little  or  nothing  that  is  suggested  to  them 
by  the  study  of  the  Holy  Scriptures. 

It  is  only  too  true  that  Biblical  fanaticism  deprives  man  of 
his  intelligence  and  throws  him  into  a  certain  degree  of  de- 
mentia for  which  medical  science  has  not  yet  found  a  remedy. 
All  the  world  knows  that  the  Bible  is  full  of  difficulties  both 
in  letter  and  sense;  that  the  learned  in  every  country  have 
spent  every  power  of  their  mind  upon  the  study  of  the  Bible ; 
that  the  many  Protestant  sects  for  three  hundred  years  have 
disputed  over  the  true  sense  of  the  words  of  the  Gospel,  with- 
out thus  far  deciding  anything  with  certainty ;  for  all  that, 
our  Missionary  has  conversed  with  Protestants  who  believed 
that  they  could  convert  the  tribes  by  the  distribution  of  copies 
of  the  Bible — these,  by  the  way,  usually  incomplete  and  poorly 
translated.  Such  a  supposition  a  thousand  times  disproved 
by  facts  could  only  enter  the  head  of  a  man  deprived  of  com- 
mon sense. 

The  Catholic  Priest  preaches  the  truths  of  the  holy  Re- 
ligion of  Jesus  Christ  to  the  Indians  as  he  would  preach  them 
to  the  most  learned  persons  of  the  world;  without  reference 
to  their  ignorance  or  their  knowledge  he  only  announces  the 
spotless,  unalterable  Faith  in  which  he  himself  has  been  in- 
structed and  which  all  the  Catholics  of  the  world  have  be- 
lieved from  Apostolic  times.  And  in  truth,  such  is  the 
command  of  Jesus  Christ :  "Go  ye  into  the  whole  world  and 
preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature.  He  that  believeth  and 
is  baptized  shall  be  saved;  but  he  that  believeth  not  shall  be 
condemned."  (Mark  XVI,  15.)  By  this  means  the  most 
simple  minds  receive  all  Christian  truth,  without  the  aid  of 
books,  and  Biblical  studies,  for  which  the  greater  part 
of  humanity  is  unfitted  either  from  natural  incapacity  or  the 
laborious  circumstances  of  their  lives. 

The  Protestant  method  employed  in  the  conversion  of  the 
savage  to  Christianity   supposes  in  them  a  degree  of  intel- 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.  125 

lectual  power  which  in  general  they  do  not  possess ;  that  is, 
the  ability  to  read  the  Scriptures  and  to  discover  therein 
through  reasoning,  those  truths  called  fundamental  truths — 
yet  learned  Protestants  themselves  are  still  divided  in  opinion 
upon  these  very  points.  In  the  second  place,  the  savage,  wan- 
dering, struggling  for  subsistence,  could  find  neither  the  time 
nor  opportunity  for  making  such  a  study  of  the  Holy  Books 
as  in  truth  few  Protestants  have  made.  It  is  absurd,  then,  to 
expect  these  unlettered  minds  to  search  out  through  Bible 
study  these  verities  eternal,  indispensable  to  salvation  which 
their  preceptors  themselves  have  not  yet  discovered. 

The  Catholic  method  requires  of  the  savage  only  the  giv- 
ing up  of  vices  and  the  will  to  believe  in  those  doctrines  which 
independently  of  mere  reason,  are  learned  without  arguments 
or  disputations,  and  even  without  books,  but  simply  by  hear- 
ing, as  says  Saint  Paul,  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  X,  17, 
"the  Faith  cometh  by  hearing."  If  the  Christian  Religion  is 
a  body  of  truths  revealed,  it  follows  that  these  truths  are 
learned  not  through  reason,  but  through  preaching,  that  is 
"by  hearing."  The  experience  of  three  centuries  has  proved 
that  Christ's  priest  can  make  more  converts  from  Paganism 
to  the  great  truths  of  the  Christian  Religion  by  the  simple 
preaching  than  a  thousand  Protestant  ministers  with  their 
millions  of  Bibles  aided  by  their  numberless  commentaries 
and  studies ;  their  mission  appears  properly  not  calling  the 
idolater  to  the  Light  of  the  Gospel,  but  rather  perverting  him 
whom  the  Catholic  has  converted,  teaching  him  to  protest 
against  any  and  every  doctrine  that  he  has  learned  and  leading 
him  by  degrees  to  a  state  of  negation  or  at  most  to  one  of 
mere  opinions  and  doubts. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 

PROTESTANT  MISSIONS  AMONG  SEVERAL  TRIBES 
OF  INDIANS  IN  WISCONSIN  TERRITORY  AND 
VICINITY  IN  1834. 

It  may  not  be  useless  to  give  a  short  account  of  some 
Protestant  missions  existing  just  at  this  time  in  Wisconsin 
Territory  and  its  vicinity.  The  subject  of  the  conversion  of 
the  Indian  Tribes  to  Christianity  had  engaged  every  Religious 
sect  of  the  United  States  and  of  Europe,  and  in  point  of 
pecuniary  contributions  they  rival  the  generous  piety  of 
Catholics.  The  Protestant  Missions  possess  very  many  insti- 
tutions scattered  throughout  that  vast  region  then  peopled 
with  Indians  much  more  than  at  present. 

The  Island  of  Mackinac  boasted  of  a  very  large  establish- 
ment belonging  to  the  Presbyterian  sect.  A  minister  with  his 
wife,  several  assistants,  naturally  some  of  whom  were  women, 
had  the  direction  of  the  household,  consisting  of  about  one 
hundred  persons.  The  pupils  for  the  most  part  were  children 
of  traders  of  European  descent,  but  married  to  Indian  wives 
or  those  of  mixed  race.  In  the  schools  they  were  taught  the 
English  language,  reading,  writing,  arithmetic,  geography  and 
a  smattering  of  history.  The  principal  subject,  however,  was 
the  reading  of  the  Bible,  according  to  the  translation  approved 
by  King  James  I  of  England.  This  they  committed  to  mem- 
ory so  that  not  a  few  after  some  years  were  able  to  repeat  a 
considerable  portion  of  the  text.  The  Calvinistic  teachings 
from  their  nature  permeated  with  hatred  towards  Catholicity, 
formed  the  subject  of  the  prayers,  the  sermons  and  of  the 
religious  instructions  in  which  the  youth  of  that  Mission  was 
trained.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  several  of  the 
daughters    of    Catholic    parents,    though    baptized    Catholics, 

[126] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    127 

should  become  Protestants  at  this  school,  after  several  years' 
residence  in  the  Presbyterian  Mission  School ;  for  they  had 
been  educated  far  from  a  Church  or  a  Priest,  without  any 
knowledge  of  their  Religion.  Yet  many  of  these  young  girls 
who  had  left  the  institution  returned  to  the  bosom  of  the 
Holy  Church.  At  the  Mission  so  great  was  the  hatred  to  the 
Catholic  Religion  that  the  practice  prevailed  of  praying  for 
the  conversion  of  the  idolaters,  as  they  designated  the  Catho- 
lics, and  whom  in  prayers  and  in  various  ways  they  accused 
of  worshipping  the  images  of  Christ  and  the  Saints.  The 
rather  heavy  expense  of  maintaining  so  many  individuals  was 
met  chiefly  by  the  Protestant  Societies  of  the  United  States, 
and  by  the  liberal  contributions  of  many  others  who  in  their 
zeal  forward  money,  clothing  and  provisions  in  abundance  for 
the  support  of  the  Mission. 

At  Sault  Sainte  Marie,  ninety  miles  from  Mackinac,  near 
Lake  Superior,  there  was  a  Mission  under  the  direction  of 
the  Baptist  sect.  A  minister  with  his  wife  was  director  of 
the  establishment,  which  for  hatred  towards  the  Church  was 
in  no  wise  behind  that  just  mentioned;  the  number  of  its 
pupils  was  small,  and  contributions  were  in  proportion.  To 
say  that  this  Mission  had  wrought  any  spiritual  good  to  the 
poor  people  of  the  country  would  be  idle  words ;  as  an  ele- 
mentary school  it  had  its  merits. 

Green  Bay,  as  is  shown  in  Chapter  XXVI,  had  a  quite 
extensive  institution  for  the  Anglican  Mission  whose  erection 
according  to  report  cost  the  goodly  sum  of  ten  thousand  dol- 
lars ;  the  support  of  the  teachers,  men  and  women,  was  there- 
fore no  slight  amount.  The  number  of  pupils  often  ranged 
from  sixty  to  one  hundred;  a  few  of  these  made  some  com- 
pensation ;  the  rest  were  kept  at  the  expense  of  the  Institu- 
tion, which  was  furnished  with  everything  necessary  through 
the  wealth  and  generosity  of  the  Anglicans  in  the  large  cities 
of  the  Eastern  States,  and  probably  by  their  zealous  coreligion- 
ists of  England.  Many  children  of  marriages  between  Euro- 
peans and  natives  were  educated  at  this  school.  This  rather 
unusual  circumstance  must  not  be  passed  over  in  silence,  the 


128    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

fact  that  the  minister  at  the  head  was  a  man  greatly  beloved, 
gentle  and  courteous,  yet  without  a  wife,  although  he  had 
reached  the  age  of  thirty-five;  assuredly,  he  would  not  find 
fault  with  the  celibacy  of  the  Catholic  Clergy. 

Ascending  the  Fox  River  about  twenty  miles  from  the 
Anglican  Mission  stood  another  building  for  the  propagation 
of  the  Presbyterian  belief  among  the  remnants  of  several 
tribes  who  had  come  to  the  West  from  the  State  of  New*  York. 
These  were  called  the  Six  Nations,  the  Abenakis,  and  also 
the  New  York  Indians.  They  spoke  the  English  language 
as  well  as  their  own,  as  these  tribes  had  been  trained  among 
the  English  settlers  in  New  York.  They  had  sold  to  the 
Government  their  rights  over  the  land  of  their  forefathers, 
and  had  received  as  price,  a  stipulated  sum  of  money  and  an 
extensive  tract  in  Wisconsin  Territory  near  Lake  Winnebago. 
Two  Calvinistic  ministers,  with  a  yearly  salary,  superintended 
the  Religious  instruction  and  schools  of  these  half-civilized 
natives ;  but  the  habits  of  many  of  them  were  a  scandal  to 
the  place.  These  tribes  had  a  more  intelligent  knowledge  of 
agriculture  than  the  others. 

The  Iroquois  Indians  who  had  emigrated  from  the  East- 
ern States,  also  had  their  ministers  in  this  part  of  the  country. 
The  Christian  Religion,  however,  seemed  to  them  a  subject 
undefined,  a  name  rather  than  a  doctrine. 

Different  Protestant  ministers  had  striven  vainly  to  convert 
the  Chippewa  Indians  who  occupied  the  western  shores  of 
Lake  Superior.  After  many  years,  long  voyages,  and  lavish 
outlays  by  the  Bible  societies,  the  Scriptures  had  been  preached 
from  a  central  point  called  Fond  du  Lac,  but  the  preachers 
had  not  seen  the  natives  embrace  their  belief. 

Along  the  Mississippi  River  from  Prairie  du  Chien  to  the 
Falls  of  Saint  Anthony,  a  distance  of  about  three  hundred 
miles,  the  various  sects,  but  chiefly  the  Presbyterian,  sent  out 
their  Bible  Readers  or  Exhorters,  for  the  most  part  accom- 
panied by  their  families.  Both  time  and  money  were  spent 
profusely  and  vainly,  for  the  Indians  of  the  Menominee. 
Chippewa  and  Sioux  tribes  had  not  yet  learned  to  read  either 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    129 

in  English  or  in  their  own  native  tongue.  This  state  of  affairs 
usually  led  the  ministers  to  seek  their  own  support  and  pro- 
vide for  the  future  needs  of  their  large  families;  some  among 
them  had  the  merit  of  having  a  sure  means  of  support  se- 
cured, by  cultivating  with  their  own  hands  a  tract  of  land  in 
some  pleasant  and  picturesque  site  along  the  river  bank. 

Two  French  Preachers,  sent  by  a  Protestant  Society  in 
Europe,  according  to  report,  commenced  a  mission  among  the 
Sioux  Indians;  one  seems  to  have  failed  in  perseverance  and 
abandoned  the  undertaking;  the  other,  marrying  a  young  girl 
of  the  region,  continued  there  his  fruitless  preaching  on  the 
letter  of  the  Bible. 

More  notable  was  the  establishment  begun  in  1834  at 
the  expense  of.  the  Winnebago  Indians  and  put  under  the 
direction  of  a  Presbyterian  minister ;  it  was  a  few  miles  from 
Prairie  du  Chien  near  the  western  bank  of  the  Mississippi. 
In  1832  this  tribe,  the  Winnebagos,  had  sold  to  the  United 
States  a  rather  extensive  stretch  of  land  which  their  fore- 
fathers had  inhabited ;  in  addition  to  the  annual  payment  of 
many  thousand  francs,  which  the  Indians  received  for  the 
sale,  the  Government  was  to  build  a  school  and  support  it  for 
thirty  years  at  a  yearly  cost  of  three  thousand  one  hundred 
and  fifty  dollars.  In  the  summer  of  1834,  the  chiefs  of  that 
tribe  had  demanded  through  their  agent,  Captain  Robert  A. 
McCabe,  that  the  Catholic  Priest  be  appointed  director  of 
their  school;  in  spite  of  this  a  Calvinistic  minister  was  as- 
signed to  the  place.  So  he  with  his  wife  and  sons  came  into 
possession  of  a  fine  dwelling,  as  much  land  as  he  desired,  and 
the  aforesaid  annual  sum  with  other  sources  of  revenue  which 
it  would  take  too  long  to  enumerate.  In  this  school  a  few 
Indian  children  of  Canadian  or  English  fathers  received  the 
first  rudiments  of  education,  but  the  chief  benefit  fell  to  the 
minister,  who  then  became  the  Indian  Agent  with  a  good 
salary  from  the  Government.  If  it  were  asked  how  many 
adult  Indians  were  converted  to  the  Presbyterian  creed,  I 
believe  that  no  one  could  answer  to  the  very  difficult  question. 

Now  let  the  reader  imagine  the  immense  sum  expended 


130    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

for  the  various  establishments  here  mentioned,  that  is,  for 
the  building  so  many  houses,  the  amounts  paid  out  for  so 
many  ministers  with  their  families  and  assistants,  traveling 
expenses,  food  and  clothing  of  the  pupils,  books,  manage- 
ments, and  so  many  other  things  inseparable  from  the  carry- 
ing on  of  such  institutions.  The  Protestant  Societies,  as  has 
been  said,  contributed  the  greater  part  of  the  funds  necessary 
for  these  foundations ;  another  portion  came  from  the  grants 
made  by  the  Government  for  civilizing  the  Indian  tribes ;  while 
a  small  sum  was  received  from  the  parents  of  some  of  the 
pupils.  The  periodical  Reports  published  by  the  different 
sects  teemed  with  most  marvelous  accounts  of  the  unheard- 
of-progress  of  the  Gospel  among  the  natives,  of  the  great 
usefulness  and  great  need  of  Bibles  and  of  evangelical  laborers 
in  the  matter  of  the  conversion  of  the  people  of  the  West. 
One  minister  of  New  York  City,  in  1832,  did  not  hesitate  to 
use  the  accounts  of  the  progress  made  by  the  Catholic  Re- 
ligion among  the  Indians,  and  the  zeal  of  the  Priests,  for  the 
purpose  of  rousing  his  own  coreligionists  to  devote  themselves 
to  the  missions.  Similar  statements  were  printed  by  them. 
Through  these  means  were  won  the  hearts  of  their  readers 
in  the  great  cities,  as  also  those  goodly  sums  without  which 
the  Bible  Readers  could  make  no  progress. 

In  1834,  the  Missionary  who  writes  these  Memoirs,  seeing 
himself  surrounded  by  so  many  sectarian  establishments,  and 
anxious  to  prevent,  if  possible,  the  Indian  youth  from  imbibing 
false  principles,  undertook  to  build  a  House  of  Education. 
But  not  having  received  from  the  Government  Agent  the 
yearly  appropriation  of  $2,100  assigned  for  the  education  of 
the  Menominee  children,  to  which,  as  is  stated  in  Chapter 
XXVI,  he  had  every  right,  he  found  himself  without  the 
means  of  paying  for  the  expenses  already  incurred,  and  with 
a  sense  of  self-blame  for  thus  incurring  expense  through  too 
great  trust  in  justice.  The  Bishop  of  Detroit  contributed  the 
sum  of  $1,000  with  funds  furnished  by  the  Propaganda;  this 
did  not  suffice  to  pay  half  of  the  indebtedness,  but  it  was 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI.  O.  P.    131 

liquidated  afterwards  when  the  Redemptorist  Fathers  in  1835 
took  charge  of  the  Church  and  house  of  Green  Bay. 

Before  closing  this  Chapter,  it  will  be  of  use  to  make  this 
observation,  that  Protestantism,  unable  to  convert  the  adult 
savage,  limits  itself  to  training  the  tender  youth,  in  whom  it 
may  hope  to  infuse  the  faith  in  the  divinity  of  the  Scriptures, 
which  they  must  afterwards  examine  by  private  judgment. 
Thus  only  the  sects  flatter  themselves  with  the  idea  of  col- 
lecting in  time  an  assembly  of  followers.  On  the  other  hand 
the  Catholic  Priest  found  the  conversion  of  the  tribes  more 
ready,  by  directing  his  instructions  to  the  mature,  capable  of 
receiving  the  truths  of  the  Gospel ;  their  children  become 
Christians  because  attracted  by  the  good  example  or  by  the 
wisdom  of  their  parents.  This  unfailing  result  could  well 
be  brought  forward  as  a  new  and  irresistible  argument  for 
the  Apostolic  Mission  of  the  Catholic  Clergy,  for  they,  like 
the  Apostles,  call  to  the  light  of  the  Gospel,  first  those  of  ripe 
years  after  whom  follow  their  children.  The  Protestant  min- 
ister in  his  powerlessness  must  needs  leave  the  Pagan  of  ma- 
ture years  in  his  blindness  and  put  all  his  hope  in  the  little  chil- 
dren. The  Catholic  Priest  finds  his  power  over  the  Pagans 
in  preaching,  that  is,  in  the  words  of  Christ :  "Go  ye  and  teach 
all  nations."  The  Protestant  minister  finds  his  power  over 
the  Pagans  in  educating  their  children.  Had  the  Apostles 
followed  the  Protestant  system  of  converting  the  nations, 
where  would  they  have  found  the  way  to  establish  so  many 
schools,  and  how  many  centuries  would  have  elapsed  before 
attaining  the  object  desired?  Let  the  Protestant  answer  this 
inquiry,  after  the  full  force  of  it  has  been  studied. 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

MISSIONS  AMONG  THE  WINNEBAGO  INDIANS  IN 
THE  YEAR  1834— CONVERSION,  BAPTISM 
AND  BURIAL  OF  AN  INDIAN  WOMAN— AN 
EXPERIENCE  WITH  RATTLESNAKES— HOW 
THE  PROGRESS  OF  THE  FAITH  WAS  IM- 
PEDED. 

In  the  spring  of  1834,  Monsignore  Rese,  Bishop  of  De- 
troit, sent  to  Green  Bay  a  brother-Priest  to  assist  our  Mis- 
sionary in  the  varied  offices  connected  with  that  Church,  on 
which  devolved  the  spiritual  care  of  more  than  two  thousand 
Catholics,  scattered  far  and  wide  over  an  immense  space  of 
wild  country.  Then,  therefore,  it  became  possible  to  visit 
again  the  Winnebagoes,  many  of  whom  had  received  Baptism 
the  year  before.  After  a  journey  of  one  hundred  and  ten 
miles  on  horseback  through  the  wilderness,  the  Priest  reach- 
ing the  Wisconsin  River  was  met  by  a  party  of  Indians,  all 
intoxicated  with  the  whiskey  just  sold  to  them  by  the  traders, 
and  all  boisterous  and  quarrelsome  accordingly.  One  of  the 
Christian  Indians  advised  him  not  to  attempt  to  reach  the 
lodges  which  were  about  six  miles  distant,  for  as  nearly  all 
who  were  not  Christians  were  drunk  and  would  continue  so 
until  next  morning,  he  was  afraid  that  the  Priest  might  be  mo- 
lested that  night.  In  spite  of  this  wise  advice,  the  Priest,  with  a 
great  deal  of  difficulty,  crossed  the  river,  and  before  night 
dismounted  in  the  valley  where  three  hundred  of  these  Indians 
were  living;  most  of  these,  poisoned  with  the  liquor,  were 
yelling  and  quarreling  over  the  last  remains  of  the  whiskey 
barrel.  The  lodge  of  one  of  the  Christian  Indians  gave  shel- 
ter to  the  Priest  with  his  interpreter,  and  there  they  ate  the 
scanty  meal  that  Providence  had  provided  them. 

[  132] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    133 

Next  morning  before  sunrise,  the  first  sound  heard  was 
the  voice  of  an  aged  Indian  convert,  who  passing  up  and 
down  among  the  huts  gave  notice  of  the  Missionary's  arrival 
and  reproved  the  bad  conduct  of  the  young  men  who  had 
given  themselves  up  to  vicious  behavior  the  day  before;  he 
concluded  his  self-imposed  office  by  admonishing  them  to  be 
converted  to  the  Christian  Religion.  This  mode  of  publish- 
ing the  orders  and  warnings  of  the  Chiefs  is  said  to  be  an 
ancient  practice  still  observed  by  the  well-disciplined  tribes. 

To  avoid  repeating  what  has  already  been  said  of  the  man- 
ner in  which  these  people  were  converted,  it  may  be  briefly 
stated  that  more  than  three  weeks  were  spent  in  instructing, 
baptizing,  hearing  Confessions  and  administering  the  Sacra- 
ment of  Matrimony  to  the  new  Christians.  Provisions  were 
obtained  from  the  traders,  and  we  shared  the  common  table 
with  the  poor  Indians ;  the  bed  consisted  of  a  mat  laid  upon 
the  bare  ground  or  perhaps  upon  strips  of  bark,  with  a  blan- 
ket. A  kind  Providence  ever  supplied  their  real  needs  and 
blessed  their  temperance  by  granting  them  perfect  health. 
The  holy  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass  was  usually  celebrated  in  one 
of  the  lodges,  all  things  necessary  for  this  having  been  brought 
by  the  Priest  on  horseback,  the  bread  and  wine  for  the  altar 
also  forming  part  of  his  little  burden.  The  Winnebagoes 
showed  themselves  more  docile  than  usual ;  those  who  did 
not  wish  to  become  Christians,  gave  no  annoyance  to  those 
who  were  attending  Catechism;  indeed  they  often  came  to 
the  instructions  themselves,  but  chose  to  stay  outside,  listen- 
ing to  what  was  spoken  within,  so  the  truth  was  making  a 
little  progress. 

A  noteworthy  circumstance  was  the  baptism  and  funeral 
rites  of  an  Indian  woman  of  this  tribe.  During  her  last  pro- 
longed illness  the  poor  creature  had  put  into  operation  every 
superstitious  charm  known  to  the  savages,  hoping  to  obtain 
a  cure  of  her  sufferings.  Her  husband,  a  noted  warrior,  was 
equally  famous  for  his  pretended  gift  of  curing  diseases  in 
virtue  of  the  secrets  of  what  might  be  termed  magic.  In  the 
sick  woman's  lodge,  sacrifices  were  offered  both  to  the  good 


134    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI.  O.  P. 

and  to  the  bad  spirit,  who  were  both  invoked  with  strange 
prayers  a  thousand  times  repeated,  in  noisy  ejaculations.  He 
tried  the  efficacy  of  a  snake-skin,  the  skin  of  several  other 
animals,  but  each  failed  him,  while  the  poor  woman  was 
plainly  drawing  near  her  end.  As  the  Indian  doctors  were 
unable  to  discover  the  cause  of  the  severe  pains  that  the 
patient  was  suffering,  one  of  them  professed  to  discover  by 
means  of  a  tortoise-shell ;  he  thrust  the  head  part  of  this  into 
the  mouth  of  the  sufferer,  declaring  that  the  spirit  formerly 
dwelling  in  that  shell  had  entered  into  the  woman's  body  to 
examine  into  the  condition  of  the  disease ;  withdrawing  it 
after  a  few  minutes  and  lifting  that  portion  to  his  ear,  he 
told  the  bystanders  that  he  heard  from  the  turtle  the  account 
of  the  true  condition  of  the  malady.  With  such  superstitions 
are  the  poor  creatures  deluded,  for  they  not  only  obtain  no 
relief,  but  they  are  even  obliged  to  reward  the  pretended  wis- 
dom of  these  medicine  men  who  will  not  move  a  finger  with- 
out pay. 

The  Priest  had  heard  of  the  desperate  case  of  the  invalid, 
and  went  to  her  lodge ;  there  with  his  interpreter's  help,  he 
succeeded  first  in  convincing  her  of  the  false  and  foolish 
doctrine  of  those  who  had  promised  to  cure  her ;  then  ex- 
plaining the  consoling  promises  of  the  Christian  Religion,  he 
awakened  her  to  belief  in  the  Unity  of  God  in  the  Trinity,  and 
in  the  Incarnation  and  Divinity  of  Jesus  Christ.  At  the  close 
of  the  second  day,  with  the  gift  of  grace,  and  with  a  limited  but 
sufficiently  clear  knowledge  of  the  Divine  Truths,  the  sick 
woman  received  Holy  Baptism  and  died  that  night.  Happy 
the  soul  passing  so  speedily  from  the  waters  of  Regeneration 
to  the  life  of  the  Blessed! 

This  was  the  first  Christian  death  in  that  tribe,  and  the 
Priest  thought  it  might  promote  the  cause  of  Religion  to  carry 
on  the  funeral  rites  with  all  ceremony,  and  thus  teach  the 
Indians  the  sanctity  of  the  true  Faith  not  only  in  her  doc- 
trine, but  also  in  her  care  for  the  dead.  The  corpse  was  borne 
to  the  lodge  which  was  called  the  church  ;  every  one  was  invited 
to  the  religious  services,  pagans  as  well  as  Christians,  those 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELL1,  O.  P.    135 

who  could  not  find  room  within,  stood  outside.  During  the 
celebration  of  Mass,  the  Baptized  Indians  were  repeating  from 
memory  the  few  prayers  that  they  knew,  the  others  looking 
on,  assisted  most  respectfully  and  in  profound  silence.  After 
Mass  the  Priest  began  to  explain  the  saving  grace  of  Baptism 
coming  upon  one  who  has  died  after  receiving  it  with  Faith 
and  contrition,  as  he  hoped  the  deceased  had  done.  The  doc- 
trine of  the  Resurrection  of  the  Dead  formed  the  principal 
theme  of  his  discourse,  for  this  great  truth  has  greater  power 
than  any  other  to  touch  the  hearts  of  these  people,  and  lead 
them  to  God ;  a  natural  consequence  of  this  doctrine  is  the 
respect  due  to  the  body  of  the  dead,  who  will  rise  again, 
vivified  by  the  soul  which  inhabited  this  body. 

After  the  funeral  ceremonies  in  the  Church,  the  proces- 
sion was  formed,  composed  of  the  whole  tribe,  men,  women 
and  children,  Christians  and  pagans ;  then  followed  four  boys, 
who  filled  the  place  of  clerics ;  the  body  was  carried  by  four 
Indians;  the  father  of  the  dead  woman,  chief  of  the  tribe, 
although  not  yet  a  Christian,  walked  before  the  bier  carrying 
a  cross  in  his  right  hand ;  the  Priest  with  several  assistants 
closed  the  procession.  Proceeding  thus  about  a  mile,  they 
reached  the  summit  of  a  hill,  the  site  of  the  cemetery  where 
a  grave  was  dug,  and  the  mortal  remains  of  the  new  Christian 
were  solemnly  deposited  therein  with  all  the  ceremonies  of 
the  Church's  Ritual.  And  here  the  Missionary  took  occasion 
to  discourage  the  practice  of  burying  the  favourite  possessions 
of  the  deceased  in  the  same  grave  with  the  body,  a  practice 
common  to  nearly  all  the  North  American  Indian  tribes,  ac- 
cording to  their  affectionate  wish  that  these  objects  may  be 
of  some  use  and  consolation  to  the  dead  hunter  in  the  "happy 
hunting  grounds."  The  immortality  of  a  man's  soul  might 
well  be  called  an  article  of  faith  among  the  tribes  of  North 
America. 

This  village  where  the  Priest  was  staying  was  called  Decari 
after  its  tribal  chief;  the  place  and  its  surroundings  were  in- 
fested with  rattlesnakes,  whose  bite  is  most  venomous,  usually 
deadly.    One  morning  just  as  he  opened  his  eyes  at  daylight, 


136    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

he  discovered  one  of  these  rattlesnakes  coiled  round  a  beam 
which  crossed  the  lodge.  Knowing  that  these  creatures  do 
not  attack  unless  molested,  he  waited  quietly  until  it  crawled 
out  through  a  hole  in  the  side.  Later  while  he  was  attending 
a  sick  man,  the  Missionary  sat  upon  the  ground  near  the 
patient  for  more  than  half  an  hour;  on  rising  to  leave  the 
place  there  lay  an  enormous  rattlesnake  quietly  sleeping,  which 
had  been  all  the  while  coiled  up  under  the  folds  of  his  cas- 
sock. The  Indians  present  cried  out  and  instantly  killed  the 
reptile  which  this  time  at  least  had  done  no  harm.  There  was 
a  Winnebago  there  who  to  display  his  daring  and  peculiar 
power,  used  to  grasp  a  rattlesnake  by  the  neck  and  let  it  coil 
its  full  length  around  his  naked  arm;  then  he  would  throw  it 
from  him  and  circling  round  it  to  escape  its  deadly  thrust, 
would  grasp  it  again  by  the  neck.  Wherever  these  venomous 
snakes  are  found,  is  also  found  a  provision  of  a  loving  Provi- 
dence in  a  certain  herb,  which  when  chewed  and  quickly  ap- 
plied to  the  wound  made  by  the  poisonous  fangs,  neutralizes 
the  effects  of  the  venom. 

Continuing  the  brief  history  of  this  Mission  it  may  be 
noted  that  in  September  of  1834  the  Priest  paid  another  long 
visit  to  this  tribe.  On  that  occasion,  a  number  of  the  Indians 
manifested  a  great  opposition  to  the  true  Faith  for  the  reason 
that  they  feared  being  influenced  by  the  example  and  author- 
ity of  the  chiefs,  in  the  matter  of  giving  up  the  practice  of 
polygamy,  the  use  of  ardent  spirits,  an  important  article  of 
trade,  as  also  of  relinquishing  the  superstitious  practices  to 
which  they  were  accustomed  to  resort  for  averting  sickness 
or  war.  One  proof  of  this  was  the  means  employed  that  very 
year  in  order  to  avert  the  cholera.  The  superstitious  nation 
had  heard  the  news  that  there  had  been  some  deaths  from 
this  plague  at  Prairie  du  Chien,  a  hundred  miles  to  the  west- 
ward. That  same  day  when  the  sun  was  about  setting  in  a 
clear  sky,  the  braves  set  to  work  loading  their  guns  and  shoot- 
ing them  off  towards  the  west  in  order  to  kill  the  cholera,  as 
they  said.  This  warlike  fusillade  against  the  setting  sun  was 
kept  up  for  more  than  half  an  hour. 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    137 

The  eldest  son  of  the  venerable  chief  Decari  discovering 
that  his  mother  and  several  of  his  younger  brothers  and  sis- 
ters had  been  baptized,  threatened  to  kill  his  own  father,  if 
he  would  dare  to  follow  their  example.  The  good  old  man, 
intimidated  by  these  threats,  did  not  dare  to  join  the  Chris- 
tians openly,  although  he  often  came  to  the  services.  His  own 
exemplary  life  free  from  those  vices  which  are  really  the  true 
cause  of  obstinate  unbelief,  merited  that  God's  Mercy  did  not 
abandon  him  at  the  hour  of  death  which  occurred  in  the  win- 
ter of  1836.  Then  remembering  the  holy  truths  which  he  had 
so  often  heard  repeated  by  the  Christians,  he  longed  to  die 
like  a  Christian ;  he  could  not  have  a  Priest  at  his  death-bed, 
so  he  sent  for  an  old  Canadian  who  like  himself  spoke  the 
Chippewa  dialect,  and  begged  his  friend  to  baptize  him,  re- 
ceived the  saving  Sacrament  with  the  greatest  devotion  and 
rendered  his  soul  to  God  a  few  days  later.  Who  could  doubt 
that  the  good  life  of  the  aged  chief  Decari  won  for  him  the 
Sacrament  of  Regeneration  in  this  life  and  the  fruit  of  our 
Lord's  Redemption  in  Paradise? 

It  was  not  only  the  wickedness  of  some  of  the  people  of 
the  village  where  the  Missions  were  given  that  hindered  the 
progress  of  Religion  among  the  Winnebagoes ;  various  other 
causes  contributed  to  the  same  result.  In  1834  the  tribe  num- 
bered more  than  five  thousand  persons,  two  thousand  of  these 
having  sold  to  the  Government  their  lands  on  the  east  of  the 
Wisconsin  River — had  imposed  themselves  and  their  vicious 
practices  upon  the  few  Christian  Indians ;  the  money  which 
the  newcomers  received  every  year,  only  swelled  the  tide  of 
immorality  among  them ;  the  traders,  greedy  of  gain,  fostered 
their  craving  for  brandy  and  in  the  train  of  drunkenness  all 
vices  followed.  Just  at  this  time  there  was  under  discussion 
a  plan  to  remove  the  whole  tribe  to  the  west  of  the  Mississippi, 
and  in  fact  the  plan  was  carried  into  effect  the  following  year. 
This  naturally  threw  the  Indians  into  a  state  of  apathetic  in- 
difference towards  their  present  abiding-place  and  towards 
that  Religion  whose  duty  was  to  restrain  them  within  the 
bounds  of  social  and  community  obligations.    The  Protestant 


138    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

Mission  to  the  west  of  the  great  river,  with  its  abundant 
means  and  influence,  both  pecuniary  and  sectarian,  put  many 
obstacles  in  the  progress  of  Catholicity.  The  Missionary  found 
himself  entirely  destitute  of  means,  even  the  most  necessary — 
for  instance,  to  pay  for  the  services  of  an  interpreter,  ex- 
penses of  travel  and  even  of  food ;  on  one  occasion  he  lived 
for  a  week  on  bread  and  butter  only,  which  he  had  brought 
himself  in  his  scanty  luggage,  for  the  bad  weather  and  ab- 
sence of  the  hunters  made  it  impossible  to  procure  other  pro- 
visions. Once  pressed  by  hunger  he  made  a  meal  off  the 
flesh  of  a  prairie  rat,  which  turned  out  to  be  eatable  in  an 
emergency,  though  rank  and  ill-smelling. 

For  effecting  the  conversion  of  these  people,  known  as 
one  of  the  most  immoral,  intractable  and  least  amenable  to 
virtue  of  all  the  tribes,  more  powerful  means  would  have  to  be 
employed  than  those  at  the  disposal  of  one  solitary  Priest.  A 
permanent  abode  with  these  people,  a  thorough  command  of 
their  language,  with  the  necessary  time  for  its  acquisition — 
none  of  these  was  possible  for  one  laborer,  compelled  to  give 
his  time  also  to  the  service  of  those  Catholics  of  many 
different  nations,  scattered  far  and  wide  over  a  vast  country. 
Money  was  sorely  needed  for  building  some  structure  to  serve 
as  a  Church,  for  a  cabin  as  dwelling,  for  paying  an  inter- 
preter, for  even  supplying  the  daily  wants  of  the  Indians 
themselves,  especially  in  winter,  for  establishing  a  school,  and 
lastly  for  introducing  agriculture  among  these  poor  people. 
In  the  total  lack  of  all  these  things  the  propagation  of  the 
Faith  would  be  a  miracle  in  truth. 

God  has  ransomed  through  His  own  Precious  Blood  His 
elect  of  every  tribe  and  every  tongue  as  is  written  in  the 
Apocalypse,  and  He  has  called  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Gos- 
pel, to  the  participation  in  the  merits  of  His  Precious  Blood, 
and  to  the  glory  of  His  Kingdom,  a  few  souls  among  these 
Winnebago  people,  notwithstanding  the  great,  almost  incredi- 
ble difficulties  in  the  way  of  their  conversion.  The  heavenly 
seed  of  the  Divine  Word  will  yet  in  the  decrees  of  God's  Mercy 
be  able  to  produce  greater  fruit  of  eternal  life,  and  give  new 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.  139 

consolation  to  the  heart  of  him  to  whose  lot  it  fell  to  first 
sow  the  seed  in  the  midst  of  these  poor  people.  The  few 
faithful  Christians  among  them  having  learned  the  saving 
doctrine  of  Holy  Baptism  bestowed  on  their  children,  in  dan- 
ger of  death,  are  continuing  this  holy  practice. 


CHAPTER  XXX 

MISSION  TO  PRAIRIE  DU  CHIEN  IN  1835. 

The  Catholics  of  Prairie  du  Chien  on  the  Mississippi, 
about  five  hundred  in  number,  had  not  seen  a  Priest  who  could 
announce  God's  Word  or  administer  the  consolations  of  Re- 
ligion to  them  since  October,  1832,  so  in  1835  our  Missionary 
determined  to  set  out  for  that  station,  which  belonged  to  his 
Mission.  On  the  first  of  February  he  left  Fort  Winnebago 
in  company  with  one  of  the  traders,  and  traveled  by  sleigh 
down  the  frozen  Wisconsin  River  for  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles ;  thence  crossing  a  tongue  of  land  he  found  himself  at 
his  destination,  a  village  by  the  Father  of  Waters. 

On  the  journey  the  travelers  saw  in  the  distance  a  fine 
buck  attacked  by  nine  greedy  wolves,  who  cunningly  con- 
trived to  force  the  fleet-footed  creature  flying  for  its  life,  to 
cross  the  river;  here  on  account  of  the  ice,  it  could  not  keep 
up  its  swift  flight,  slipped,  and  fell  into  the  ravenous  jaws 
of  its  famished  pursuers.  They  were  tearing  it  to  pieces  and 
devouring  it  alive,  when  the  whip  was  laid  to  our  horse  and 
the  two  travelers  came  up  to  the  poor  victim.  The  wolves 
with  mouths  full  of  the  yet  warm  flesh,  taking  fright  at  the 
sudden  rush  of  the  horse,  fled  off  the  ice  to  the  bank  nearby, 
leaving  behind  them  more  than  two-thirds  of  their  prey.  In 
this  unforeseen  manner  did  Providence  supply  needy  travelers, 
who  this  time  shared  the  game  caught  by  the  cunning  and 
skill  of  the  very  wolves.  The  night  was  spent  in  the  woods 
on  an  island  in  the  Wisconsin,  and  as  a  company  of  traders 
reached  the  same  place  of  encampment  at  evening,  most  of 
the  night  was  devoted  to  roasting  and  feasting  on  the  venison. 

The  faithful  of  the  village  were  better  disposed  this  year 
to  frequent  the  Church  and  the  Sacraments  than  had  been 

[  140] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELL1,  O.  P.    141 

the  case  in  1832,  and  therefore  the  occasion  was  more  favor- 
able for  preaching  the  truths  of  Faith ;  every  Sunday  of  Feb- 
ruary, and  part  of  March,  was  spent  in  that  house  where  Mass 
was  celebrated  for  the  time  being.  Many  of  the  people  re- 
ceived the  holy  Sacraments  for  the  first  time,  many  savages 
of  the  Menominee  and  Chippewa  tribes  were  regenerated  in 
the  saving  waters  of  Baptism.  Yet  notwithstanding  all  that 
could  by  any  possibility  be  said  and  done  in  those  few  weeks, 
ignorance  and  scandalous  lives  prevailed  for  some  years  among 
many  who  could  hardly  be  called  Catholics,  until,  as  will  be 
recorded  in  Book  Second  of  these  Memoirs,  a  Priest  was  per- 
manently appointed  there,  and  a  fine  large  Church  was  built 
in  the  village. 

Here  must  be  related  an  edifying  circumstance  which  took 
place  in  March,  1835 — the  return  of  an  aged  blind  man  to 
the  Religion  from  which  he  had  strayed.  Born  in  Montreal, 
Canada,  of  parents  in  easy  circumstances,  he  had  enjoyed 
the  advantages  of  a  good  education,  but  in  early  youth  had 
come  in  the  capacity  of  a  trader  to  live  among  the  Mississippi 
tribes,  and  in  the  course  of  time  had  entirely  forgotten,  at  least 
in  practice,  the  teachings  of  his  holy  Faith.  Now  he  had  been 
blind  for  three  years,  and  near  the  end  of  life ;  but  was  striving 
towards  a  reconciliation  with  God  so  fervently,  that  often  as 
he  sat  weeping  over  years  gone-by,  he  trembled  in  every  limb 
like  a  leaf  shaken  by  the  wind ;  tears  gushed  in  torrents  from 
the  eyes  which,  as  he  said,  could  not  tell  night  from  day.  On 
the  Sunday  when  the  Priest  bore  the  Blessed  Sacrament  to 
the  bedside,  the  people  thronged  thither  praying  on  bended 
knee,  in  the  room  and  on  the  ground  outside  the  house,  offer- 
ing petitions  for  the  poor  blind  Christian  whose  words  and 
edifying  demeanor  moved  the  throng  to  tears  of  tender  com- 
passion and  joy.  All  without  distinction  gave  thanks  to  God 
Who  in  His  Mercy  had  granted  to  that  soul  so  great  a  spiritual 
delight  and  so  prepared  the  dying  Christian  to  open  his  eyes 
to  the  light  of  Heaven. 


CHAPTER  XXXI 

STATE  OF  THE  MISSIONS  AMONG  THE  INDIAN 
TRIBES  WHEN  THE  MISSIONARY  LEFT 
THEM  TO  THE  CARE  OF  HIS  SUCCESSORS. 

The  Mission  of  the  Island  of  Mackinac  which  comprised 
Point  Saint  Ignace  and  the  surrounding  islands  at  the 
time  when  it  was  placed  under  the  spiritual  charge  of  another 
Priest,  counted  more  than  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  sav- 
ages of  the  Chippewa,  Ottawa  and  Menominee  tribes.  In 
addition  to  these,  and  much  greater  in  number,  were  many 
baptized  Christians,  children  of  Indian  mothers  and  of  Cana- 
dian, English  or  American  fathers ;  a  few  of  these  possessed 
some  education,  but  the  others  were  hardly  distinguishable 
from  the  native  Indians.  These  new  Christians  for  the  most 
part  persevered  in  the  Faith  and  in  the  practice  of  good  works ; 
almost  all  the  adults  were  practical  Catholics.  Since  1833  the 
cause  of  Christianity  in  that  Island  had  never  been  deprived 
of  the  services  of  a  good  pastor. 

At  the  time  when  the  Bishop  of  Detroit  had  stationed  a 
Missionary  at  Sault  Sainte  Marie  in  1833,  the  number  of 
natives,  chiefly  Chippewas,  who  had  been  baptized,  was  not 
less  than  sixty.  Here  as  in  other  trading-posts  there  was 
found  a  population  of  mixed  Indian  and  white  descent,  who 
were  baptized  and  could  claim  many  zealous  Christians. 

Green  Bay  in  Wisconsin  had  more  converts  to  the  Faith 
than  the  other  Missions  in  that  section.  At  one  time  the 
Menominees  numbered  a  thousand  at  least,  with  more  than 
two  hundred  and  fifty  practical  Catholics  among  them,  well 
instructed  in  the  truths  of  Faith ;  about  five  hundred  had  en- 
joyed the  privilege  of  receiving  Confirmation  from  Bishop 
Edward  Fenwick,  O.  P.,  and  also  in  1834  from  the  Bishop 

[142] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    143 

of  Detroit.  The  adults  were  faithful  to  the  Sacrament  of 
Penance,  which  as  Confession  required  the  services  of  an  in- 
terpreter, was  more  exacting  on  the  time  of  both  Pastor  and 
parishioner.  After  the  year  1834,  the  Redemptorist  Fathers 
and  other  Priests  attended  to  the  Religious  wants  of  these 
Christians ;  many  of  these  good  people  died  the  deaths  of  true 
Christians,  many  still  serve  God  in  the  devout  practice  of 
their  Religious  duties,  while  a  few  among  them,  by  force  of 
evil  environments  and  bad  example,  allowed  themselves  to  be 
led  away  perhaps  not  from  the  Faith,  but  at  least  from  ex- 
emplary lives.  At  Green  Bay  there  were  probably  about  five 
hundred  Catholics,  who  either  on  the  father's  or  the  mother's 
side  were  akin  to  the  Menominee  and  Chippewa  Indians ;  these 
although  Catholics  were  not  numbered  among  the  real  con- 
verts, who  are  natives. 

In  January,  1835,  the  Register  of  Baptisms  administered 
among  the  Winnebagoes  showed  three  hundred  and  ten  names, 
including  children,  who  constituted  the  greatest  number,  and 
here  and  there  thirty  or  more  Baptisms  of  natives  which  had 
not  been  registered.  Up  to  this  time  only  four  of  the  natives 
had  been  considered  sufficiently  prepared  for  the  reception 
of  the  Most  Holy  Communion,  and  seven  others,  children  of 
Winnebago  mothers  and  Canadian  fathers,  had  the  same  priv- 
ilege. The  Sacrament  of  Matrimony  was  conferred  upon 
about  twenty-five  couples.  Many  of  the  Christian  Indians 
passed  to  the  next  life  confirmed  in  grace,  we  have  reason  to 
hope ;  while  many  have  persevered  until  this  day  in  Faith  and 
in  the  practice  of  the  obligations  of  a  good  Christian,  others 
have  strayed  from  the  right  path  because  they  were  too  far 
from  the  Priest,  and  exposed  to  temptations  in  the  midst  of 
heathens  and  deprived  of  those  instructions  necessary  in  their 
case  to  perseverance. 

Such  was  the  state  of  the  Mission  among  the  savages  when 
our  Missionary  left  them  to  the  zeal  and  good  example  of  his 
successors  in  the  toilsome  service.  The  lack  of  a  school  build- 
ing for  the  children  of  the  different  tribes  was  felt  to  the  quick 
by  one  who  knew  too  well  the  importance  of  such  a  building. 


144    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

at  a  time  when  its  erection  would  have  given  wonderful  re- 
sults. Neither  the  means  nor  the  men  for  such  an  establish- 
ment could  be  found  among  the  Catholics,  while  the  Prot- 
estants were  building  and  supporting  among  the  Indians  in 
many  places  not  a  few  schools  for  the  purpose  of  converting 
the  people.  Although  this  fact  serves  to  bring  out  more  re- 
splendently  the  superiority  of  the  Catholic  preaching,  which 
yields  its  own  fruits  even  without  the  aid  of  educational  es- 
tablishments, nevertheless,  humanly  speaking,  the  Catholic 
Missions  in  Wisconsin,  assisted  by  a  good  school,  would  have 
preserved  the  Faith  much  more  effectually  among  the  con- 
verted Indians  and  in  all  probability  have  brought  about  the 
conversion  of  all  the  tribes. 

The  Priest  who  up  till  1830  had  made  the  first  advance 
into  a  region  situated  upon  the  confines  of  civilization  and 
inhabited  by  tribes  of  Indians  with  their  many  white  traders, 
could  do  nought  but  scatter  a  few  seeds  of  the  Faith  here  and 
there,  while  planting  the  Cross  of  Christ  and  introducing 
solemn  observances  and  teaching  the  beauty  of  Catholic  wor- 
ship. Other  missionaries  came  afterwards  to  foster  and  en- 
courage by  example  and  words  the  growth  of  those  truths 
announced  by  their  predecessor  which  were  in  time  to 
bring  forth  fruit  worthy  of  eternal  life.  If  the  Lord  per- 
mitted that,  in  its  first  establishment  in  these  regions,  Religion 
should  be  deprived  of  the  means  which  human  wisdom  con- 
sidered necessary  to  its  maintenance,  we  ought  to  adore  His 
inscrutable  decrees  and  those  wondrous  mysterious  ways  of 
God,  by  means  of  which  He  calls  unto  Himself  His  own  elect, 
and  for  reasons  to  us  unknown,  punishes  the  soul  that  renders 
itself  unworthy  of  the  grace  of  holy  Baptism. 

It  may  be  well  for  the  reader  of  these  Memoirs  to  know  that 
the  Catholic  Missions  among  the  Indians  of  Wisconsin  and 
Northern  Michigan  have  now  almost  ceased  to  exist,  for 
within  the  last  few  years,  the  Government  of  the  Republic 
has  bought  up  those  tracts.  The  Ottawa  and  Chippewa  tribes 
sold  a  great  part  of  their  lands  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Island 
of  Mackinac  and  migrated  elsewhere.    The  Menominees  ceded 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    145 

the  lands  along  the  Fox  River,  the  Bay  and  Lake  Winnebago 
and  have  withdrawn  more  to  the  northern  section  of  the  Ter- 
ritory. Since  the  year  1836,  the  poor  Winnebagoes  have  pos- 
sessed nothing  of  that  immense  tract  of  country  which  they 
had  occupied  to  the  east  of  the  Mississippi  and  have  been 
provisionally  settled  upon  the  opposite  shore  of  the  great 
River  only  to  be  ordered  to  move  yet  farther  away,  in  a  brief 
time.  The  tribes  of  Sacs  and  Foxes  who  made  war  against 
the  United  States  in  1832  had  been  occupying  the  lands  in 
the  vicinity  of  the  Mississippi,  but  after  their  outbreak  evacu- 
ated all  those  regions  and  are  now  found  not  far  from  the 
Missouri  River.  A  similar  case  is  that  of  the  Pottawatomies 
who  have  been  living  in  Wisconsin  Territory  along  the  shore 
of  Lake  Michigan  where  they  used  to  have  a  Missionary.* 
And  thus  are  the  savages  slowly  moving  towards  the  setting 
sun.  But  change  of  place  alone  would  be  an  affair  of  no 
importance  as  regards  Religion,  were  it  not  accompanied  by 
many  and  varied  fatal  circumstances  opposed  to  the  propa- 
gation of  the  Faith.  The  money  received  in  payment  of  their 
lands  ceded  to  the  Government  is  a  source  of  many  disorders, 
and  settling  in  a  new  country  in  the  midst  of  heathen  tribes, 
contributes  not  a  little  to  shake  their  Faith  and  demoralize 
the  Christians.  Besides  all  this,  it  is  exceedingly  difficult  and 
costly  to  send  Priests  and  to  build  new  Churches  in  places 
which  are  almost  wildernesses  and  destitute  of  all  things 
necessary. 


*  See  map  at  end  of  Book  I. 


CHAPTER  XXXII 

RELIGION  IS  THE  ONLY  MEANS  OF  CIVILIZATION 
FOR  THE  INDIAN  TRIBES— THE  GREAT  OB- 
STACLES IN  ITS  WAY. 

Before  closing  the  Memoirs  on  the  subject  of  the  "Mis- 
sions Among  the  Indians  of  Wisconsin  Territory,"  it  may  be 
satisfactory  to  many  readers  to  give  some  general  idea  regard- 
ing the  civilization  of  the  tribes  who  live  within  these  United 
States;  this  may  also  assist  in  correcting  some  erroneous  im- 
pressions made  by  different  writers  who  either  through  lack 
of  sufficient  knowledge  of  the  facts,  or  carried  away  by  a 
certain  spirit  of  enthusiasm  or  else  by  views  of  self-interest, 
have  declared  very  easy  of  accomplishment  a  work  which 
under  existing  circumstances  has  shown  itself  to  be  a  diffi- 
cult and  an  almost  impossible  one. 

The  Catholic  Religion  has  the  power  to  call  the  Indian 
from  his  wild,  roving,  barbarous  mode  of  life  to  a  participa- 
tion in  the  spiritual  gifts  of  Redemption  and  to  advantages 
of  Christian  society.  In  order  to  become  a  follower  of  the 
Teaching  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  savage,  without  changing  his 
mode  of  life,  has  only  to  abandon  his  superstitious  practices, 
to  believe  the  truths  of  Faith,  to  perfect  in  himself  those  ideas 
of  morality  already  imprinted  upon  his  soul  by  Almighty  God 
Himself,  to  do  what  is  good  and  avoid  what  is  evil.  When 
circumstances  are  favorable,  such  a  transformation  of  the 
tribes  is  not  so  difficult  as  some  imagine;  for,  as  creatures 
endowed  with  reason  and  destined  for  the  glory  of  the  chil- 
dren of  God,  they  were  redeemed  by  God  the  Saviour,  as 
were  the  other  nations  of  the  world  and  thus  made  able  to 
receive  the  gift  of  Faith  in  all  its  plenitude.  Then  Religion 
with  the  Heavenly  power  of  her  virtues  but  especially  with 

[146  J 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    147 

the  spirit  of  fraternal  love  and  of  true  charity,  brings  mutual- 
ly individual  to  individual,  family  to  family,  village  to  village, 
tribe  to  tribe,  and  thus  lays  the  foundation  of  society,  unites 
its  varied  parts,  and  little  by  little  builds  thereon  the  entire 
superstructure  of  the  arts  and  sciences,  in  a  manner  lasting 
and  beneficial  to  humanity. 

If  these  salutary  effects  of  Religion  among  the  uncivil- 
ized Indian  tribes  are  not  always  manifest,  it  is  not  because 
Christianity  itself  by  its  very  nature  does  not  produce  them, 
but  because  of  the  immense  obstacles  in  its  path.  These  great 
obstacles  to  the  propagation  of  the  Faith  are  found  in  man 
himself,  in  his  passions  and  in  society  generally  when  this 
does  not  cooperate  with  example  and  influence. 

A  Christian  who  comprehends  the  sublimity  of  revelation 
and  sees  how  perfectly  it  is  adapted  to  rescue  men  from  the 
misfortunes  of  his  present  state,  does  not  make  civilization 
consist  in  the  form  of  government,  in  civil  laws,  in  the  regu- 
lations of  society,  in  human  sciences  or  arts,  in  the  courtesies 
of  life,  in  riches,  in  social  elegances,  but  he  believes  it  lives 
in  the  knowledge  of  God  and  in  the  practice  of  the  moral 
virtues.  The  savage,  become  Christian,  may  in  truth  be  called 
civilized  in  an  eminent  degree,  for  the  reason  that  his  knowl- 
edge of  God  and  purity  of  morals  illumine  his  intellect  and  fill 
it  with  religious  science,  infinitely  beyond  the  entire  array  of 
human  discoveries.  And  besides,  to  what  does  it  all  really 
aim — this  world  of  books,  of  studies,  of  gold,  of  grandeur, 
of  elegances  of  life,  of  progress,  whether  civil,  literary  or 
social?  Their  one  object  is  to  attain  to  a  certain  degree  of 
happiness.  But  the  Catholic  Indian  is  put  in  possession  by 
his  religion  of  that  moral  and  social  felicity,  which  not  Solo- 
mon himself  with  all  his  wisdom  and  royal  magnificence 
could  enjoy. 

In  order  to  better  develop  this  great  truth,  let  us  put  be- 
fore us  the  case  of  an  American  savage,  instructed  in  the 
Law  of  God,  faithful  to  the  promises  made  in  Baptism,  who 
goes  to  Europe  for  the  purpose  of  beholding  the  grandeur 
of  the  nations,  the  magnificence  of  cities,  of  palaces  and  as- 


148    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

semblies,  the  luxury,  fashion,  wealth,  all  that  civiliza- 
tion has  found  of  beauty  or  utility.  After  this  review,  he  is 
then  taken  to  the  courts  of  justice  where  he  is  informed  of 
the  numberless  civil  and  criminal  processes  against  the  citi- 
zens ;  he  is  given  an  idea  of  the  codes,  the  laws,  of  their  sever- 
ity towards  delinquents ;  he  visits  the  prisons  and  there  to 
his  intense  surprise  sees  numerous  malefactors,  among  whom 
are  many  condemned  to  death.  Everywhere  he  notes  iron- 
barred  doors,  not  only  in  the  prisons  but  even  in  the  houses; 
here  and  there  along  the  streets  he  meets  groups  of  armed 
men,  and  others  who  stand  guard  with  their  guns  day  and 
night.  It  is  a  mysterious  spectacle  to  him,  from  which  he  has 
reason  to  consider  the  country  at  war.  This  is  not  enough ; 
the  good  savage  is  led  to  the  arsenals  where  he  beholds  a 
prodigious  quantity  of  ammunition  and  gun-powder;  the  sight 
of  the  cannon  strikes  him  with  dismay.  From  their  size  and 
number  he  forms  an  estimate  of  the  slaughter  they  can  cause; 
a  few  steps  further  and  he  enters  a  fortress  where  are  seen 
all  the  engines  of  war  for  devastating  the  country  by  fire  and 
sword.  Lastly,  before  him  in  a  broad  plain  are  drawn  up  in 
battle  array  the  thousands  of  soldiers  on  foot  and  on  horse- 
back, armed  with  guns  and  swords,  all  well  skilled  in  the  art 
of  exterminating  their  own  kind;  then  follows  the  dreadful 
artillery  with  its  vast  convoy  of  horses  and  men.  Yet  more ; 
if  by  chance  this  man  is  present  at  one  of  those  moments 
when  the  troops,  drawn  up  simultaneously,  discharge  their 
guns,  the  cavalry  in  its  sudden  and  tumultuous  onslaught, 
threatens  destruction  and  death,  while  the  artillery  shakes 
the  very  earth,  makes  the  air  resound  with  thundering  ex- 
plosions, darkens  the  sun  with  clouds  of  blinding  smoke,  so 
that  the  sky  seems  convulsed  with  the  tempest  and  thunder 
and  everything  breathes  terror,  fire  and  death — the  poor 
Indian  at  such  an  unexpected  and  terrible  spectacle  may 
well  cry  out,  "My  God,  where  am  I!  What  civilization  is 
this !" 

A  friendly  citizen  draws  near  to  comfort  the  terrified  spec- 
tator, makes  him  take  note  that  he  is  no  longer  among  the 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    149 

barbarians  in  American  forests,  but  in  Europe  among  a  cul- 
tivated people  where  there  exist  so  many  beautiful  things  that 
not  even  an  idea  of  them  can  be  formed.  And  this  friend 
adds:  "The  tribunals,  the  laws,  the  prisons  are  for  the  good 
order  of  society;  the  guards  whom  you  noted  in  our  country 
serve  for  the  protection  of  the  person  and  the  property  of 
our  citizens;  the  weapons,  the  soldiers  and  the  military  exer- 
cises which  so  deeply  impressed  you  are  indispensable  in  a 
civilized  people.  Woe  to  our  societies  if  they  were  not  here ! 
Nay,  the  perfection  to  which  the  art  of  war  has  been  brought 
up  to  this  day  is  a  proof  of  our  progress  in  culture." 

Now  our  good  Savage,  impressed  by  the  novel  and  im- 
mense wonders  that  have  passed  before  his  eyes  would  say 
to  the  European,  with  all  his  native  candor  and  sincerity : 
"You  have  shown  me  many,  many  beautiful  things,  which  are 
unknown  to  my  tribe ;  yet  notwithstanding  all  these,  the  civil- 
ization brought  to  us  poor  Indians  by  the  Priest,  is  far  supe- 
rior to  that  of  Europe,  for  from  the  moment  that  we  became 
Christians,  disputes,  feuds,  acts  of  revenge,  drunkenness,  theft, 
immorality,  murder  were  entirely  banished ;  the  people  of 
our  village  live  in  peace,  day  and  night  with  no  guards, 
tribunals  and  prisons.  When  we  were  heathen  we  loved  war 
and  we  desired  the  death  of  our  enemy;  yet  now,  we  live  in 
harmony  with  the  neighboring  tribes ;  but  you,  to  judge  by 
what  I  have  seen,  are  still  studying  the  art  of  murdering  your 
kind.  Moreover  it  seems  to  me  that  the  manners  or  the 
morals  of  Europe  must  be  very  imperfect  since  it  needs  so 
many  laws  and  so  many  formidable  fleets  and  armies  to  make 
the  people  honest  and  obedient :  I  would  advise  you  to  be- 
come good  Christians  like  us,  then  you  would  be  just  and 
would  be  happy  in  each  other's  society  and  would  enjoy  in 
this  life  the  consoling  hope  of  a  blessed  eternity." 

Thus  would  one  speak  who  should  judge  of  the  intellectual 
progress  of  society,  not  by  the  material  aspects,  but  rather 
by  the  peaceful  and  happy  condition  of  the  individuals  who 
compose  it.  From  this  may  be  inferred  what  the  Missionaries 
found  to  be  a  truth,  that  is.  that  the  first  means  for  civilizing 


150    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

the  savage  is  Religion ;  this  alone  surpasses  in  influence  every 
art  of  human  knowledge,  and  carries  with  it  a  principle  of 
industry  which  is  able  to  ameliorate  his  condition,  both 
physical  and  social. 

Many  persons  in  Europe  suppose  that  the  American  In- 
dian tribes  can  be  raised  to  the  same  grade  of  civilization  as 
the  other  nations  of  the  earth.  Such  progress  does  not  seem 
possible  under  the  circumstances  existing  among  those  tribes 
within  the  limits  of  the  United  States,  and  this  for  several 
reasons.  First,  the  present  generation  of  Indians  is  incapable 
of  taking  such  a  step,  by  reason  of  their  extreme  poverty  and 
of  the  necessity  of  changing  their  abode  in  order  to  give  place 
to  the  European  settlers  who  take  possession  of  their  lands ; 
the  vices  introduced  into  the  tribe  by  the  traders  offer  an  in- 
surmountable obstacle  to  any  education  and  to  morality,  with- 
out which  there  can  be  no  civilizing  process.  The  missions 
and  schools  of  the  ministers  of  the  various  sects  serve  more 
to  confuse  than  to  teach  the  aborigines ;  moreover,  self-interest 
seems  to  be  the  ruling  principle  in  these  establishments. 

But  granting  that  a  tribe  had  taken  a  step  towards  prog- 
ress, when  the  Government  buys  their  land,  the  tribe  is  re- 
moved to  the  midst  or  to  the  neighborhood  of  other  tribes 
in  regions  entirely  uncultivated,  and  there  it  is  subjected 
anew  to  the  influences  of  the  savage  life  as  at  first.  There 
is  another  very  convincing  reason  for  supposing  civiliza- 
tion morally  impossible  in  these  people ;  it  lies  in  the  fact 
that  the  United  States  Government  pays  to  almost  every  tribe 
on  the  borders  of  the  States  an  annual  sum  stipulated  in  the 
sale  which  they  made  of  the  lands  that  they  were  occupying. 
The  money,  instead  of  being  a  means  of  self-improvement, 
is  the  moral  and  physical  ruin  of  the  Indian,  who  spends  it 
unwisely  or  abandons  himself  to  indolence.  It  also  attracts 
around  him  many  individuals  who  have  no  aim  outside  their 
own  interests,  and  are  on  many  accounts  the  least  capable  of 
propagating  the  social  virtues. 

It  must  not  be  inferred  from  all  this  that  in  the  United 
States  are  not  found  tribes  among  whom  there  is  practice  in 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    151 

the  mechanical  arts  and  intellectual  culture.  But  these  are 
rather  remnants  of  tribes  and,  for  the  greater  part  of  mixed 
race  with  one  parent  of  European  descent,  who  have  lived 
for  many  years  in  the  midst  of  a  civilized  population  from 
whom  also  they  have  learned  the  English  language.  This  was 
the  work  of  at  least  half  a  century,  and  the  attentive  observer 
will  find  in  addition,  that  the  progress  is  not  general  throughout 
the  tribe,  but  is  limited  to  individuals.  The  accounts  of  this 
subject  given  to  the  press  and  circulated  throughout  America 
and  Europe  are  usually  so  exaggerated  that  the  reader  is  led 
to  draw  from  false  suppositions,  inferences  which  through 
a  number  of  contrary  facts  are  entirely  unwarranted. 

But  some  one  may  say :  Then  will  it  not  be  possible  to 
bring  the  tribe  to  the  state  of  civilization?  In  theory,  there 
seems  to  be  every  possibility,  yet  experience  teaches  the  con- 
trary. In  fact,  in  South  America  where  the  aborigines  who 
inhabited  it  at  the  time  of  the  discovery  of  that  continent  were 
formerly  much  more  skilled  in  the  arts  and  lived  in  com- 
munity, they  have  advanced  in  civilization  exactly  in  propor- 
tion as  their  race  became  amalgamated  with  Europeans. 
Three  hundred  years  of  intercourse  with  uncivilized  nations, 
left  in  these  countries  a  great  number  of  Indians  in  an  un- 
civilized state.  But  to  treat  of  the  causes  of  their  present 
condition,  would  be  beyond  the  limits  of  these  Memoirs. 

In  North  America  up  to  the  time  of  the  discovery  of  the 
country,  the  tribes  were  less  advanced  in  civilization  than 
those  who  were  living  in  a  milder  climate,  and  in  spite  of 
the  great  efforts  made  at  different  times  both  by  governments 
and  by  Religious  Associations  they  are  still  with  very  few 
exceptions  almost  in  their  primitive  state.  Wherever  the 
European  has  built  cities  and  cultivated  the  soil,  the  Indian  has 
entirely  disappeared.  This  is  the  case  especially  in  the  United 
States,  where  from  the  Atlantic  Ocean  to  the  Mississippi 
River  are  to  be  found  only  a  few  wretched  remnants  of  tribes, 
and  already  throughout  the  Territory  of  Iowa,  the  States  of 
Missouri,  Arkansas  and  Louisiana,  the  Indians  have  been 
gradually   scattered   towards  the  vast   regions   at   the   head- 


152    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

waters  of  the  great  rivers  Missouri,  Platte,  Kansas  and 
Arkansas. 

The  reason  why  in  Canada  the  original  tribes  still  live  near 
the  Atlantic  coast,  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  first  settlers  of  that 
province  now  under  the  English  government,  were  French, 
who  instead  of  driving  out  the  Indians,  were  satisfied  to  oc- 
cupy the  country  with  them;  their  villages  were  adjacent,  and 
each  respected  the  rights  of  the  other.  Catholicity  consoli- 
dated this  peaceable  mode  of  living  side  by  side.  Then  emi- 
gration to  Canada  was  never  on  so  large  a  scale  as  to  the 
Republic  whose  Government  was  compelled  to  harbor  the 
Europeans  for  the  increase  of  its  own  population  while  the 
English  government  had  not  the  same  anxiety  on  that  head. 

From  this  we  may  gather  that  morally  speaking,  the  train- 
ing of  the  tribes  even  to  a  moderate  degree  is  almost  im- 
practicable under  the  present  circumstances,  and  these  appear 
so  permanent  as  to  foretell  their  future  destiny,  that  is,  their 
continuance  in  their  wild,  roving  and  uncivilized  state  until 
the  day  when  the  civilized  population  of  Europe  shall  have 
rilled  the  entire  continent,  and  then  the  poor  Indian  will  have 
left  in  the  land  hardly  a  trace  of  his  existence. 

The  true  friend  of  the  Indian  must  be  satisfied  to  bring 
him  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truths  of  the  Gospel,  for  these, 
as  experience  teaches,  are  within  the  grasp  of  his  intelli- 
gence and  are  practicable  in  the  physical  and  social  conditions 
wherein  Divine  Wisdom  has  placed  him.  Religion  will  find 
in  her  treasures  of  heavenly  knowledge  gifts  that  will  gladden 
and  assist  these  people;  agriculture,  the  mechanical  arts,  writ- 
ing, reading  and  a  fixed  social  order  shall  be  the  inseparable 
accompaniments  of  holy  Faith.  It  is  this  in  substance  which 
can  be  done  for  the  benefit  of  this  poor  race,  and  in  truth, 
nought  else  is  necessary  for  their  present  or  future  felicity. 
To  begin  this  without  the  Faith  would  be  to  build  a  house 
without  a  foundation. 

If  the  Catholic  Religion  in  accord  with  the  United  States 
Government  could  exercise  absolute  influence,  both  religious 
and  political,  over  the  tribes  who  live  beyond  the  borders,  in 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    153 

such  manner  as  to  exclude  traders,  sectarians  and  any  person 
whose  presence  would  be  injurious  to  them,  and  if  the  In- 
dians could  be  entirely  isolated  under  the  sole  direction  of 
the  Missionaries,  a  few  years  would  suffice  to  make  them  all 
followers  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  form  them  into  well  regu- 
lated communities  attended  by  the  advantages  of  industry  and 
the  knowledge  of  the  principles  of  the  arts  and  sciences  of 
our  civilization.  This  is  impossible,  however,  because  of  the 
great  majority  of  Protestants  in  the  Republic  and  from  the 
spirit  of  Religious  and  political  liberty  which  influences  many 
citizens  to  force  themselves  in  among  the  tribes.  The  Govern- 
ment by  Acts  of  General  Congress  has  many  times  made  gen- 
erous grants  of  money  for  the  instruction  of  Indian  children, 
but  differences  of  Religion  and  conflicting  interests  make  each 
attempt  of  very  little  utility ;  even  if  a  few  pupils  have  learned 
to  read  the  Bible,  to  read  and  write  in  English,  these  usually 
have  lost  much  of  their  innocent  simplicity  and  when  grown, 
have  not  proved  themselves  examples  of  morality  to  their  own 
people. 

Lastly  it  may  be  noted  that  Catholic  Missions  among  the 
Indians  have  ever  been  most  flourishing  in  proportion  to  their 
distance  from  trading-posts  and  from  the  white  men  in  gen- 
eral ;  a  proof  of  this  is  the  mission  of  Arbre-Croche,  and  that 
Mission  in  Oregon  Territory  amid  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
which  was  begun  a  few  years  ago  by  the  Jesuit  Fathers. 


END  OF  BOOK   I 


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BOOK  II 

Memoirs  of  Missions  Among  the  Catholics  and 

Protestants  in  the  Territories  of  Iowa  and 

Wisconsin  and  the  State  of  Illinois 


CHAPTER  I 

HOW  THE  MISSIONARY,  AFTER  HAVING  SERVED 
IN  THE  PROPAGATION  OF  THE  FAITH 
AMONG  THE  INDIANS  IS  APPOINTED  TO 
THE  MISSIONS  ABOUT  THE  HEADWATERS 
OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI. 

In  Book  I  of  these  Memoirs  mention  is  made  that  the  Mis- 
sionary in  question  was  appointed  in  1830  by  Bishop  Edward 
Fenwick  of  Cincinnati,  afterwards  by  Monsignore  Frederic 
Rese,  Bishop  of  Detroit,  until  other  Priests  were  able  to  settle 
there.  Early  in  1835  not  on^y  tne  Indians  recently  converted 
to  the  Faith,  but  also  the  white  settlers  received  through  the 
unwearied  and  charitable  zeal  of  several  Priests.,  the  sweetest 
consolations  of  our  most  holy  Religion.  Then  our  Mission- 
ary cherished  the  thought  of  visiting  his  own  Brethren  of 
the  Order  of  Saint  Dominic  in  Ohio,  and  of  consulting  with 
them  as  to  the  place  where  it  would  be  most  suitable  that  he 
should  fulfill  the  duties  of  his  ministry.  As  it  had  come  to 
his  knowledge  that  in  that  part  of  Wisconsin  on  the  Missis- 
sippi, where  it  borders  on  the  State  of  Illinois,  there  were  liv- 
ing many  Catholics  with  no  guidance  or  assistance  from  pas- 
toral care,  he  planned  to  take  that  direction;  and  for  this 
reason  leaving  Prairie  du  Chien  early  in  April  where  he  had 
spent  part  of  the  winter,  he  traveled  on  horseback  first  to  a 
village  called  Mineral  Point.  At  this  place  it  pleased  Divine 
Providence  to  grant  him  means  most  timely  and  necessary  for 
continuing  his  long  journey.  A  gentleman  of  the  place  de- 
sired him  to  baptize  his  three  children  and  invited  him  also 
to  preach  in  one  of  the  houses.  He  willingly  consented  and 
this  having  been  done,  as  he  was  remounting  his  horse  next 
morning,  the  father  of  the  newly  baptized  children  put  into 

r  157] 


158    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

his  hand  the  sum  of  twenty  dollars.  "May  God  be  thanked!" 
was  the  only  word  the  recipient  could  utter,  for  without 
this  assistance  he  would  not  have  been  able  to  accomplish 
a  tenth  part  of  the  distance  yet  to  be  traversed.  The  keeper 
of  the  hotel,  too,  although  a  Protestant,  declined  to  take  his  just 
due  for  the  traveler's  entertainment.  A  ride  of  forty  miles  from 
Mineral  Point  brought  him  to  Galena,  a  little  city,  but  important 
as  the  centre  of  the  rich  lead  mining  interests  of  that  region. 

In  this  northern  section  of  the  State  of  Illinois  there  were 
at  that  time  about  three  hundred  Catholics  who  had  neither 
Priest  nor  Church;  in  like  deplorable  case  was  also  the  city 
of  Dubuque,  then  a  tiny  village  on  the  western  bank  of  the 
Mississippi  River.  The  Missionary  interrupted  his  journey 
to  minister  to  the  spiritual  needs  of  the  faithful  of  these  two 
places  and  their  surroundings.  Many  Baptisms,  Confessions 
and  a  few  Communions  were  the  slender  but  salutary  effect 
of  his  words  during  the  brief  stay  of  two  weeks.  The  people 
would  fain  have  kept  the  Priest  near  them,  but  he  desired  first 
to  obtain  the  permission  from  the  Bishop  of  Saint  Louis,  who 
then  held  the  jurisdiction  over  that  part  of  the  country. 

Reaching  Saint  Louis  after  a  journey  of  five  hundred 
miles,  crossing  the  river  in  a  steamboat,  he  had  the  happiness 
of  becoming  acquainted  with  the  venerable  prelate  Monsignore 
Guiseppe  Rosati.  (This  holy  Bishop  laden  down  with  merits 
and  virtues  rendered  his  soul  to  his  God,  in  Rome,  September 
twenty-second,  1843.)  From  Saint  Louis  he  pursued  his 
course  along  the  Mississippi  and  thence  passing  up  the  Ohio 
River,  he  landed  at  Cincinnati,  where  the  zealous  Bishop  John 
Purcell  was  occupying  the  episcopal  chair.  Finally  he  reached 
Somerset  in  Ohio,  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  Cincin- 
nati, and  there  took  counsel  with  his  brethren  of  the  Order 
Saint  Dominic  who  have  the  charge  of  many  parishes  in  that 
town  and  in  the  surrounding  country.  It  was  judged  neces- 
sary for  the  greater  honor  of  Religion  that  he  should  retrace 
his  steps  in  order  to  use  every  effort  possible  in  those  Missions 
to  which  he  appeared  to  be  imperatively  summoned  by  the 
circumstances.    This  plan  compelled  our  Missionary  to  under- 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    159 

take  a  fresh  journey  of  one  thousand  and  three  hundred  miles 
in  order  to  return  to  the  Upper  Mississippi  region  where  he 
arrived  July  4,  1835. 

The  Catholic  inhabitants  of  the  rising  cities  of  Galena  and 
Dubuque,  with  the  hope  of  securing  the  Priest's  permanent 
residence  among  them,  early  in  the  next  month,  August,  wrote 
to  the  Superior  General  of  the  Order  of  Preachers  residing 
in  Rome,  to  the  effect  that  they  begged  him  to  be  pleased  to 
consent  that  the  Priest  in  question  might  exercise  his  holy 
ministry  exclusively  in  that  part  of  the  Republic  of  the  United 
States.  The  Most  Reverend  Hyacinthe  Cipolletti,  the  zealous 
Master-General  happily  governing,  who  illustrates  the  Domi- 
nican Order  by  his  wisdom  and  his  true  devotion  to  its  inter- 
ests, animated  by  the  same  spirit  which  inspired  our  holy 
Founder  Saint  Dominic  in  the  thirteenth  century  to  send  forth 
his  brethren  in  every  direction  to  extirpate  vice  and  preach 
virtue,  with  full  consent  and  expressions  of  his  satisfaction 
acceded  to  the  great  desire  of  these  people  who  with  great 
reason  asked  for  a  pastor. 

Thus  did  the  Lord  manifest  His  Will  to  His  humble  servant 
who  ardently  desired  the  spiritual  advantage  of  the  faithful 
and  went  to  them,  glad  of  being  permitted  to  make  his  prin- 
cipal abode  with  them,  and  with  whom  he  remained  until  the 
spring  of   1843. 


CHAPTER  II 

THREE   CLASSES   OF  MISSIONS   IN   THE  UNITED 
STATES  OF  AMERICA. 

The  Catholic  Missions  in  the  United  States  may  be  di- 
vided into  three  classes ;  the  first  is  that  of  the  Priests  in  the 
civilized  sections  of  the  Republic,  especially  in  cities  already 
provided  with  Clergy  and  with  Churches,  although  these  are 
rarely  sufficient  in  number  for  the  needs  of  their  people.  In 
this  first  case,  there  are  required  on  the  part  of  the  Priest  a 
store  of  general  knowledge  and  a  mode  of  expression  clear  and 
concise,  in  order  to  agree  with  the  genius  of  the  people,  his 
hearers,  who  fairly  hang  upon  his  words.  The  Faith  often  vili- 
fied and  insulted  in  works  sent  to  the  press  by  sectarians,  im- 
peratively demands  that  the  Catholic  Priest  be  found  ready  to 
defend  it  fittingly  by  employing  the  same  means  for  defense. 
The  general  corruption,  wealth  and  luxury  with  the  manifold 
attractions  of  the  age  in  a  country  where  in  his  exterior  ap- 
pearance God's  minister  differs  little  from  the  laic,  and  where 
his  duty  often  calls  him  into  the  very  midst  of  worldly  vani- 
ties, these  and  many  other  like  circumstances  put  all  his  vir- 
tues to  the  test.  In  the  larger  cities,  Protestantism  being  more 
divided,  more  indifferent  and  for  that  reason  less  influential, 
leaves  to  the  Catholic  Priest  a  broader  field  for  making  con- 
versions through  his  preaching  the  Word  of  God.  Placed 
in  these  circumstances,  his  duties  differ  little  from  those  of 
the  zealous  Parish  Priest  in  Catholic  countries.  Generally  he 
can  derive  from  the  liberal  contributions  of  the  faithful  that 
fitting  support  which  is  by  right  due  to  him  for  the  sacrifice 
which  he  makes  of  life  and  talents.  The  extent  of  his  mis- 
sion is  seldom  one  that  calls  him  from  his  residence  for  a 
longer  time  than  one  day. 

fi6ol 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    161 

The  Priests  who  are  alone  in  places  thinly  populated,  far 
from  cities,  form  another  class  of  Missionaries.  Their  con- 
dition is  for  the  most  part  that  of  those  who  live  in  the  Ter- 
ritories of  the  Republic,  in  newly  settled  States  and  near  the 
unbroken  wilderness,  and  differs  in  many  particulars  from 
that  of  the  clergy  exercising  their  ministry  in  cities,  for  both 
naturally  share  in  the  circumstances  common  to  their  own 
sections  of  the  country.  In  the  second  case,  everything  has 
to  be  done,  the  land  must  be  cultivated,  cities  have  to  be  built, 
and  society  must  be  constituted.  The  citizens  constantly  mi- 
grating from  one  place  to  another  with  hope  of  improving 
their  conditions  by  the  cultivation  of  the  land  and  by  the 
elegant  arts,  find  themselves  for  years  deprived  of  what  forms 
the  wealth  and  common  conveniences  of  life.  The  land  is  only 
here  and  there  barely  touched  with  the  plough ;  a  state  of  rude 
nature  without  streets  or  bridges  and  containing  very  few 
settlers,  and  consequently  poorly  provided  with  dwelling 
houses,  and  these  only  frame  structures,  small  and  poorly  con- 
structed. In  the  great  number  of  those  who  seek  their  sup- 
port by  emigrating  to  new  lands,  there  are  many  Catholics, 
principally  from  Ireland  and  Germany ;  therefore  preserving 
the  Faith  in  this  scattered  population,  organizing  new  parishes, 
and  building  churches  constitute  the  most  important  duties 
of  a  Missionary.  To  his  zeal  is  often  contrasted  and  opposed 
that  of  the  Protestant  ministers,  who  almost  always  precede 
him  in  great  numbers  under  the  protection  of  various  associa- 
tions, and  well  supplied  with  means.  The  vast  extent  of  these 
Missions  bordering  upon  regions  already  civilized,  obliges  the 
Priest  to  long  and  frequent  journeys  for  the  purpose  of  spread- 
ing the  Faith,  comforting  true  believers  and  giving  help  to  the 
dying,  and  the  varied  difficulties  encountered  on  these  journeys 
are  often  such  as  could  not  easily  be  overcome  except  by  one 
ready  to  give  up  everything  for  his  duty,  and  who  has  the 
true  spirit  of  sacrifice.  Contributions  for  the  bare  necessities 
of  life  are  more  slender  and  more  uncertain  in  this  second 
class  of  Missions  than  in  the  cities,  but  Divine  Providence 
never  fails  in  desperate  need. 


162    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

The  third  and  most  distinct  class  of  Missions  in  the  United 
States  is  that  among  the  Indians;  it  may  itself  be  again  di- 
vided into  two  classes;  one  among  the  tribes  in  contact  with 
civilization  which  imparts  to  them  more  vices  than  virtues; 
the  other  among  the  tribes,  distant,  and  beyond  the  confines  of 
civilization.  As  to  the  character  of  this  class  of  Missions 
enough  has  been  said  in  Book  I  of  these  Memoirs.  The  object 
of  this  classification  is  to  put  in  clear  light  the  relative  posi- 
tion of  the  Clergy,  and  thus  enable  the  reader  to  understand 
well  not  only  these  narrations  but  also  the  Ecclesiastical  his- 
tory of  North  America. 

The  Missions  to  which  our  Priest  was  appointed  by  the 
Divine  Will  were  from  1830  to  1835  among  the  Indians  who 
lived  intermingled  with  a  half-civilized  people  of  whom  we 
have  already  treated.  From  1835  to  1843  he  then  had  his 
own  Missions  in  a  country  newly  settled,  wild,  wherein  a  fresh 
beginning  was  necessary  for  each  and  every  venture,  and  be  it 
noted  that  until  1839,  the  year  in  which  other  Priests  came  to 
that  part  of  the  country,  he  found  himself  alone  and  distant 
from  a  Brother-Priest  by  more  than  a  hundred  miles.  From 
this  it  may  be  shown  that  his  labors  are  connected  with  the 
beginning  of  Catholic  worship  in  various  parts  of  that  coun- 
try, and  if  it  seem  to  any  one  that  these  brief  records  may 
seem  just  now  of  but  little  importance,  it  must  not  be  forgot- 
ten that  one  day  it  may  be  a  great  assistance  in  the  Ecclesi- 
astical History  of  some  Dioceses  of  America. 


CHAPTER  III 

ORIGIN  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CITY  OF  DUBUQUE 
IN  THE  TERRITORY  OF  IOWA— ITS  FIRST 
CATHOLICS  AND  PRIESTS— BUILDING  OF  A 
CHURCH  BEGUN  IN  1835. 

The  little  Episcopal  City  of  Dubuque  dates  its  origin  from 
the  year  1833;  before  that  all  the  country  west  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi which  forms  the  great  Territory  of  Iowa  was  still 
inhabited  by  different  Indian  tribes.  The  Government  having 
bought  from  these  tribes  the  lands  adjoining  the  river,  after 
various  treaties,  or  to  speak  more  correctly,  after  the  expend- 
iture of  generous  sums  of  money,  many  thousands  of  the 
citizens  of  the  Republic  settled  there  within  a  few  months, 
but  especially  in  the  vicinity  of  Dubuque,  on  account  of  the 
lead  mines.  The  traffic  in  this  valuable  metal  created  the  city  of 
Dubuque,  named  for  the  last  French  trader  who  after  spend- 
ing many  years  of  his  life  in  that  place  with  the  Indians,  died 
in  181 1.  The  lead  mines  to  the  west  of  the  Mississippi  as 
far  as  latitude  42^2°  N.  had  been  worked  at  first  by  Mr.  Long, 
then  by  his  successor  in  the  Indian  trade,  M.  Cardinal,  fol- 
lowed then  by  Mr.  Dubuque.  This  account  was  given  in  1835 
by  an  aged  Canadian,  an  octogenarian,  who  during  the  course 
of  about  twenty  years  had  been  in  the  service  of  the  last  men- 
tioned gentleman. 

In  July,  1835,  the  rising  city  of  Dubuque  numbered  about 
two  hundred  and  fifty  persons,  perhaps  a  thousand  with  the 
people  in  the  environs  of  the  town,  where  the  mining  was  car- 
ried on  in  search  of  lead  veins.  The  Catholics  might  have 
numbered  two  hundred,  the  rest  were  in  the  matter  of  Re- 
ligion a  mixture  of  different  sects  and  of  persons  indifferent 
to  any  Religion.    Although  removal  from  the  ordinary  sources 

[  163] 


164    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

of  sanctification  and  evil  occasions  may  draw  the  souls  to 
what  is  wrong,  nevertheless  one  who  has  imbibed  sound  prin- 
ciples and  has  once  tasted  the  sanctity  of  true  Religion,  al- 
ways finds  a  sentiment  deep  in  his  heart  which  inclines  to- 
wards the  good.  Such  in  brief  may  be  considered  the  state 
of  the  episcopal  city  in  question.  Nearly  all  Irish  by  birth, 
on  their  first  emigration  thither,  on  the  discovery  of  mines, 
not  a  few  had  acquired  a  considerable  fortune,  but  the  wealth 
acquired  more  by  chance  than  by  industry  served  more  to 
their  harm  than  to  their  well-being.  Nevertheless,  the  Faith 
which  seemed  as  if  dulled,  was  not  extinguished  in  these  souls 
who  had  once  imbibed  Catholic  principles. 

In  1834,  a  Reverend  John  McMahon,  sent  into  these  parts 
by  the  Bishop  of  Saint  Louis,  visited  the  few  Catholics  of 
Dubuque,  but  that  same  year  he  died  in  the  city  of  Galena, 
State  of  Illinois,  where  he  had  been  living  for  nine  months. 
The  Reverend  P.  FitzMorice  who  succeeded  in  the  same 
place,  ended  his  days  that  same  year,  three  months  after  his 
arrival.  When  our  Missionary  set  foot  in  Dubuque  in  the  July 
of  1835,  he  firmly  believed  that  as  this  place  was  destined  to 
become  an  important  city  by  reason  of  its  situation,  that  he 
could  by  nothing  give  more  honor  and  advantage  to  Religion 
than  to  devote  all  his  efforts,  with  every  obligation,  to  the 
building  of  a  Church  and  the  formation  of  a  parish.  With 
this  object  the  people  assembled  in  the  house  of  Mr.  P.  Quig- 
ley,  who,  notwithstanding  his  large  household,  kindly  wel- 
comed the  Priest,  and  provided  a  room  wherein  to  celebrate 
the  Holy  Sacrifice.  As  the  site  whereon  he  hoped  to  build 
the  House  of  God  had  already  been  selected,  the  Priest  roused 
the  faithful  to  contribute  towards  it  with  all  their  might,  and 
visiting  them  personally  in  their  own  homes,  he  persuaded 
them  with  kindly  words  to  promise  the  largest  sum  that  their 
means  would  permit.  Money  was  plentiful  at  that  time  in 
Dubuque  on  account  of  the  discovery  of  new  lead  mines  and 
the  high  price  of  the  metal.  Not  only  Catholics  but  many 
Protestants  gave  the  impulse  to  this  noble  enterprise,  con- 
tributing   from   five   to   even   twenty   dollars:    several   of   the 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELL1,  O.  P.    165 

faithful,  more  favored  by  fortune  in  their  mines,  offered  forty 
and  one  hundred  dollars.  The  Missionary  having  himself 
drawn  the  plan  of  the  Church,  in  order  to  save  the  expense 
of  an  architect,  speedily  engaged  the  workmen,  who  at  that 
time  were  neither  many  in  number  nor  highly  skilled,  but 
Almighty  God  so  prospered  it,  that  on  the  fifteenth  day  of 
August  everything  was  ready  for  laying  the  first  stone. 

Almost  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  village,  Protestants  as 
well  as  Catholics,  assisted  at  this  ceremony,  for  as  it  was 
the  first  Church  in  that  great  Territory,  all  the  people  with- 
out distinction  were  satisfied  and  happy  to  see  in  a  country 
just  springing  into  existence,  a  monument  raised  for  the 
propagation  of  the  Christian  Faith.  A  manuscript  inscribed 
with  the  name  of  the  reigning  Pontiff,  of  the  Bishop  of  the 
Diocese,  of  the  President  of  the  American  Republic,  and  of 
the  Governor  of  the  Territory,  with  current  year  and  day, 
was  deposited  in  the  hollow  of  the  corner-stone.  And  in  such 
wise  was  celebrated  publicly  the  Feast  of  the  Assumption  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin  at  Dubuque,  in  the  year  1835. 

The  building  was  carried  on  with  such  uninterrupted  and 
zealous  application  that  at  the  end  of  October,  when  the 
work  had  to  be  interrupted  on  account  of  the  cold,  besides 
the  foundation,  there  were  five  feet  of  the  wall  built  round 
the  whole  circuit  of  the  building.  This  Church  was  dedicated 
to  the  Archangel  Raphael.  It  measures  seventy-eight  feet  in 
length  by  forty-one  in  breadth.  The  walls  are  of  stone  brought 
with  extreme  difficulty  from  the  hills  nearby;  to  the  small 
number  of  Catholics,  although  endowed  with  generous  piety 
and  inspired  with  zeal  as  they  were,  success  seemed  impos- 
sible, and  that  labor  too  costly;  but  eventually,  it  surpassed 
all  expectation  whatever,  because  it  was  a  cathedral  that  was 
being  erected  which  the  faithful  make  use  of  today  in  order 
to  cherish  their  own  devotion.  God  thus  ordained  it  so 
that  whatever  tends  to  the  spiritual  benefit  of  the  souls  of  true 
believers,  should  be  acknowledged  as  a  gift  by  Him. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  CITY  OF  GALENA:  ITS  ORIGIN— THE  FIRST 
PRIESTS  WHO  VISITED— IN  1835  THE  FIRST 
STONE  OF  A  CHURCH  IS  LAID. 

The  Mission  received  by  our  Priest  had  within  its  con- 
fines not  one  rising  city  alone  or  one  Province  alone,  but 
finding  himself  in  a  vast  region  and  by  himself,  he  was 
obliged  to  succor  the  spiritual  needs  of  the  faithful  who  in- 
habited Iowa  Territory,  the  western  part  of  Wisconsin  Ter- 
ritory, and  the  northern  portion  of  the  State  of  Illinois.  In 
the  latter  state  and  about  fifteen  miles  from  Dubuque,  the 
city  of  Galena  is  situated,  which  in  1835  numbered  about  eight 
hundred  souls ;  the  Catholics  were  almost  two  hundred  in 
number  but  others  lived  in  the  vicinity. 

Galena  is  situated  upon  a  little  stream  called  the  Fevre 
River,  distant  six  miles  from  the  great  Mississippi ;  the  busi- 
ness connected  with  the  rich  lead  mines  in  Wisconsin  and 
Illinois  gave  rise  to  this  town  in  1820,.  and  at  present  it  con- 
trols this  traffic  and  is  distinctively  connected  with  it.  It  is 
the  principal  site  whence  this  precious  metal  is  forwarded  on 
steamboats  to  every  quarter  of  this  prosperous  Republic,  and 
here,  too,  for  the  same  reason,  are  the  traders  who  purchase 
the  lead  with  money  or  merchandise.  In  1843  it  contained 
more  than  three  thousand  inhabitants,  and  the  lands  in  its 
vicinity  are  quite  carefully  cultivated  for  a  new  country  not- 
withstanding its  somewhat  cold  climate ;  there  is  no  doubt 
that  in  a  few  years,  with  such  riches  of  its  own  producing,  it 
will  be  able  to  become  a  populous  city. 

The  Irish,  emigrating  from  their  own  persecuted  country, 
were  the  first  to  penetrate  these  regions,  for  the  purpose  of 
benefiting  their  condition  by  industry,  but  deprived  as  they 

fi661 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    167 

were  of  the  efficacious  helps  to  the  practice  of  Religion,  with 
few  exceptions  they  possessed  the  Faith  without  the  works 
which  give  it  life.  In  1828,  the  Reverend  Vincent  Badin  and 
a  few  years  later  the  Reverend  Father  Van  Quickenberg,  a 
Jesuit,  and  the  Reverend  G.  Lutz  from  Saint  Louis,  visited  the 
Catholics  of  Galena  and  the  surrounding  country;  but  the 
Missions  were  only  of  a  few  days'  duration,  and  left  not  the 
slightest  trace  of  the  formation  of  a  parish.  Monsignore 
Rosati,  distinguished  for  his  charity  and  wisdom,  in  1833 
sent  there  as  Missionary  the  Reverend  J.  McMahon,  an  Irish- 
man, who,  as  the  preceding  chapter  recounts,  died  nine  months 
after  his  arrival  and  was  buried  in  the  public  cemetery  at 
Galena.  The  Reverend  P.  FitzMorice,  of  the  same  nationality, 
succeeded  him  in  the  ministry  the  next  year,  only  to  follow  him 
to  the  tomb  at  the  expiration  of  the  third  month  of  his  Mis- 
sion. The  bodies  of  these  two  Priests,  the  first  who  passed 
to  a  better  life  in  this  western  part  of  the  Republic,  without 
the  last  Offices  of  Religion,  will  be  exhumed  during  this  pres- 
ent year,  God  willing,  and  will  be  reverently  laid  in  the  new 
Catholic  cemetery  of  the  parish. 

In  July,  1835,  when  our  Missionary  arrived  at  this  place, 
for  the  purpose  of  exercising  the  holy  ministry,  he  found 
not  a  vestige  of  the  sacred  things  necessary  for  the  celebra- 
tion of  the  Holy  Sacrifice.  A  good  Catholic  offered  his  house 
and  on  the  second  floor  of  this,  the  Priest  erected  a  substi- 
tute for  an  Altar  which  transformed  the  room  into  a  Church, 
poor  and  narrow  indeed,  but  of  precious  remembrance  as  it 
was  the  cradle  of  the  good,  model  congregation  of  the  faith- 
ful which  was  afterwards  gathered  there.  In  that  same  room 
at  the  right  of  the  Altar,  upon  a  miserable  bed,  he  tranquilly 
passed  his  nights  planning  the  best  means  for  carrying  out 
his  intent  of  raising  in  that  young,  promising  city  a  House  to 
the  service  of  Almighty  God.  The  short  distance  from  Du- 
buque allowed  him  to  divide  his  time  so  as  to  do  in  the  one 
place  what  he  was  not  neglecting  in  the  other.  In  short, 
there  were  such  efforts,  such  visiting  and  such  stirring  words 
among   the    people,    that   the    necessary    funds    were    finally 


168    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

obtained,  wherewith  to  make  a  beginning  on  the  build- 
ing. The  greatest  difficulty  was  in  finding  a  site  suitable 
and  central  for  the  Church ;  Galena,  closely  surrounded  by 
high  hills,  has  very  little  space  for  a  city ;  land  suitable  for 
building  sites  costs  considerable  here  in  comparison  with 
other  places ;  it  was  necessary  to  incur  a  debt  of  seven  hun- 
dred and  fifty  dollars  in  order  to  secure  sufficient  land.  In 
this  place,  the  Protestants  supported  a  Calvinistic  minister, 
and  a  building  which  served  as  a  temple,  but  in  spite  of  the 
secret  opposition  which  was  made,  a  number  of  them  who 
were  not  dominated  by  prejudices,  or  who  were  influenced  by 
the  worldly  policy  common  in  the  United  States,  contributed 
generously  to  our  religious  enterprise. 

For  greater  economy,  the  Priest  acted  here  also  as  archi- 
tect and  superintendent,  and  with  Heaven's  help  found  him- 
self able  to  lay  the  first  stone  on  the  twelfth  day  of  Septem- 
ber. There  was  a  great  concourse  at  the  place  of  the  cere- 
mony; there  were  more  Protestants  than  Catholics,  called 
thither  more  by  curiosity  than  by  Religious  feeling.  He  who 
presided  at  the  function  deemed  it  well  to  render  a  service 
to  truth  and  an  act  of  justice  to  Catholics  by  explaining  the 
nature  of  the  civil  obligations  of  a  Christian  who  from  the 
sanctity  and  perfection  of  his  religion  is  literally  led  to  be 
a  good  subject  to  that  form  of  government,  whether  repub- 
lican or  monarchical,  which  is  permitted  him  by  Divine  Provi- 
dence for  its  own  inscrutable  designs.  He  proved  besides 
that  Religion  has  always  impressed  a  sacred  and  inviolable 
character  upon  all  political  and  civil  institutions  and  has  set 
the  seal  of  consecration  upon  that  obedience  to  law  without 
which  they  lose  their  worth  and  are  reduced  to  simple  mate- 
rial forces.  The  grand  truth  of  an  All-Seeing  God,  supreme 
Judge  and  Rewarder  of  good  and  of  evil,  obliges  man  as 
member  of  a  civil  society,  to  keep  the  law  both  in  private  as 
in  public  that  he  may  thus  receive  an  eternal  recompense  from 
the  Divine  Lawgiver.  Thus  does  the  Religion  of  Christ  serve 
as  a  solid  foundation  to  human  societies,  by  sanctifying  the 
laws  upon  which  they  rest. 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    169 

The  discourse  upon  this  subject  in  presence  of  a  large 
gathering  was  delivered  in  answer  to  a  calumny  spread  by 
certain  malicious  or  ignorant  persons  to  the  effect  that  Catho- 
licity cannot  put  itself  in  harmony  with  a  Republican  Govern- 
ment— an  error  once  wide-spread  throughout  the  United 
States,  yet  always  confuted  by  the  fact  that  the  Catholics  of 
that  country  give  thanks  to  the  supreme  Moderator  of  events 
that  through  the  civil  independence  of  that  form  of  govern- 
ment He  has  also  rendered  their  Religion  independent  of  the 
laws  that  were  persecuting  it. 

The  names  of  the  Supreme  Pontiff,  of  the  Bishop,  of  the 
President,  and  of  the  Governor  of  the  State,  with  the  day 
and  date  of  the  ceremony  formed  a  simple  inscription  placed 
in  the  foundation  stone,  which  when  settled  in  its  proper 
place,  served  as  a  receptacle  for  the  sum  of  more  than  two 
hundred  dollars  given  on  that  occasion  by  several  zealous 
persons  for  the  church  building.  The  church  was  dedicated 
to  the  Archangel  Michael,  Prince  of  the  people  of  God.  The 
dimensions  are  seventy-four  feet  in  length  by  forty  in  width ; 
and  that  year  it  was  too  spacious  for  the  number  of  Catho- 
lics, but  now  it  is  able  to  hold  only  half  the  Congregation. 
The  principal  utility  of  this  House  of  the  Lord  was  made 
manifest  after  a  few  years  in  the  faith  and  zeal  of  the  many 
who  hitherto  relaxed  and  lukewarm  in  the  Faith  returned 
to  the  strict  observance  of  the  holy  duties  of  Religion;  and 
it  was  made  manifest  too  in  the  conversions  of  some  who 
were  living  far  from  the  Truth,  who  are  now  giving  beautiful 
examples  of  loyalty  and  of  all  evangelical  virtues. 


CHAPTER  V 

SPIRIT  OF  THE  CIVIL  LAWS  OF  THE  UNITED 
STATES  IN  THEIR  RELATIONS  TO  THE 
CATHOLIC  RELIGION  AND  TO  ALL  THE  RE- 
LIGIOUS SECTS  EXISTING  AND  TO  EXIST. 

The  erection  of  two  Catholic  Churches  simultaneously  in 
a  country  where  Protestants  are  four  times  as  numerous  as 
Catholics,  where  the  Priest  stands  alone,  isolated  from  his 
brethren  in  the  Priesthood  and  where  there  are  many  ready 
to  spread  prejudices  against  the  Faith,  may  seem  to  some  a 
circumstance  difficult  of  explanation.  Yet  to  one  who  under- 
stands the  political  spirit  which  dominates  human  happen- 
ings in  a  society  made  up  of  peoples  of  every  nationality,  of 
every  imaginable  religious  belief,  it  ought  not  to  appear  an 
incredible  thing  to  see  one  Catholic,  alone,  unlettered,  in  one 
of  the  large  cities  of  the  American  Union,  protected  in  his  form 
of  Religious  worship,  even  though  that  form  is  believed  to 
be  a  false  one  by  all  his  other  fellow  citizens.  Any  form  of 
worship  under  its  most  striking  manifestations  and  sur- 
rounded, if  its  devotees  so  desire,  by  the  most  extravagant 
accompaniments,  is  considered  by  the  public  as  the  personal, 
private  property  of  the  individual,  is  protected  by  law,  not, 
to  be  sure,  as  a  religious  belief  or  rite,  but  as  his  house  or 
the  right  of  eating  and  drinking  what  seems  best  to  him, 
would  be  protected. 

Whoever  wishes  to  thoroughly  understand  the  status  of 
Catholicity  in  the  United  States  should  study  its  relations  to 
the  nature  of  the  existing  civil  laws.  Then  will  he  discover 
the  line  within  which  every  Religious  association,  true  or  false, 
may  enjoy  rights,  and  outside  which  they  would  become 
amenable  to  secular  authority.     It  is  not  the  writer's  inten- 

[  170] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    171 

tion  to  refer  in  this  article  to  any  politico-religious  principle, 
still  less  to  censure,  to  offer  blame,  or  vituperation  to  exist- 
ing forms  of  government  upon  their  relations  with  the  Church ; 
he  is  simply  stating  facts  which  deserve  attention  of  one  who 
desires  to  know  the  causes  of  the  progress  of  the  Faith  in 
North  America. 

The  world  has  ever  and  always  been  divided  in  its  politics 
in  relation  to  Religion ;  some  governments  have  given  their 
protection  exclusively  to  one  particular  creed  or  form  of  be- 
lief and  have  declared  the  public  and  private  profession  of 
all  others  an  offense  against  the  laws;  this  policy  unable  to 
maintain  itself  long  has  been  reduced  to  the  prohibition  of 
proselytism  or  exterior  practice  of  proscribed  forms.  Some 
governments  have  by  force  protected  a  chosen  religious  sys- 
tem, and  with  generous  bestowals  of  privileges,  while  tacitly 
tolerating  those  who  profess  different  ones.  There  are  also 
governments  who  have  supported  a  veritable  Pantheon  of  all 
creeds,  however  diametrically  opposed,  and  have  lavished 
upon  each  a  special  and  direct  interest.  The  imagination  or  the 
ignorance  of  some  misguided  persons  has  actually  conceived 
the  idea  of  a  government  without  religion.  Lastly  there  exists 
one  government  which  while  completely  without  any  religious 
system  whatever,  is  content  to  protect  its  subjects  in  the  free 
practice  of  their  own  particular  belief,  without  either  adopting 
or  repudiating  any  one  of  them  by  law. 

Now,  coming  to  our  subject,  it  must  be  noted  that  at  the 
epoch  of  the  war  between  the  United  Colonies  of  America 
and  England,  the  people  who  were  fighting  for  independence 
were  an  intermixture  of  almost  every  European  nation  and  of 
every  religious  belief.  After  independence  was  secured,  the 
question  of  Religion  seemed  to  settle  itself  by  each  individ- 
ual's belief  in  his  own  right  to  profess  whatever  he  liked, 
with  fullest  liberty;  a  republican  government  in  its  infancy 
was  not  in  a  position  either  to  protect  or  proscribe  any  par- 
ticular form,  since  it  owed  the  freedom  of  its  existence  to 
the  blood  shed  by  its  defenders  of  every  creed,  and  was  not 
empowered   to   extend   any    right   of    inspection   over   them, 


172    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

otherwise,  the  administration  of  public  worship  would  have 
proved  a  wider,  more  complicated,  more  difficult  department 
than  the  entire  political  administration. 

The  Constitution  of  this  great  Republic  was  framed  by 
representatives  of  the  people,  who  all  on  one  plane  of  equal- 
ity, were  not  willing  to  yield  to  the  laws  the  very  least  right 
over  their  particular  and  multiform  religious  creeds ;  on  the 
other  hand,  the  design  of  the  Constitution  was  simply  to  pro- 
vide for  the  well-being  of  each  individual,  giving  him  a  guar- 
antee for  everything  pertaining  to  him  as  personal  property. 
The  legislators  of  the  United  States  had  in  view  the  estab- 
lishment in  their  laws  of  that  straight  line  which  separates 
the  civil  power  from  conscience,  leaving  to  this  last,  all 
doctrines  true  or  false,  with  all  their  present  and  future  con- 
sequences, good  or  bad.  In  such  wise  did  the  various  Chris- 
tian sects,  Judaism,  indifferentism,  unbelief  and  all  the  sys- 
tems which  divide  the  world  in  religious  matters,  become 
neither  recognized  nor  repudiated  by  law,  but  simply  disjoined 
from  it  as  heterogenous,  as  a  thing  with  which  the  civil  power 
had  nought  in  common.  From  that  moment  the  whole  enor- 
mous mass  of  so  many  systems  with  all  their  inseparable  woes 
and  paradoxes  were  laid  on  the  shoulders  of  the  people  who 
were  considered  under  the  law  as  one  simple  citizen,  and 
never  under  a  religious  aspect. 

The  immediate  consequence  of  the  separation  of  the  civil 
authority  from  any  connection  whatsoever  with  religion  was 
the  obligation  on  the  part  of  the  Government  of  the  Republic 
to  protect  not  the  religion,  but  the  citizen  in  the  practice  of 
the  religion.  For  the  same  reason  and  in  the  same  sense  that 
every  government  in  the  world  does  not  interfere  with  its 
subjects  in  indifferent  matters,  but  merely  protects  them,  as 
for  instance  in  the  cultivation  of  their  own  farms,  the  form 
of  their  dwellings,  the  color  of  their  garments,  etc.,  just  so  in 
the  United  States  are  the  citizens  protected  in  whatever  is 
mere  matter  of  conscience.  Even  when  religious  practices 
conflict  with  the  laws  in  a  way,  if  these  practices  are  not  in 
themselves  immoral,  unjust  or  detrimental  to  one's  neighbor, 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    173 

they  are  respected  by  the  laws;  for  as  they  concern  the  con- 
science alone  of  the  individual,  they  are  held  as  entirely  free 
of  the  governing  authority.  But  should  the  religious  prac- 
tices of  any  citizen  whatever  turn  to  the  prejudice  of  good 
order,  of  administration  of  the  law,  or  of  the  rights  of  a 
third  party,  then  the  secular  power  can  and  must  interfere 
and  must  correct  the  delinquent,  not  as  guilty  of  following 
a  false  doctrine,  but  as  convicted  of  an  act  which  violates  the 
law  or  the  rights  of  other  parties. 

Such  in  brief,  are  the  relations  of  all  forms  of  religion 
with  the  governmental  authority  in  the  United  States,  so  sep- 
arated, that  they  might  be  considered  equally  independent 
and  free  of  each  other,  although  in  a  certain  manner  they 
lend  each  other  mutual  assistance.  The  laws  are  obliged  to 
respect  and  protect  the  citizen  in  the  exercise  of  his  religious 
belief,  and  the  religious  bodies  in  order  to  preserve  that  very 
liberty  of  worship  must  observe  and  respect  the  laws  of  the 
state,  upon  which  that  liberty  is  founded.  So  in  this  govern- 
ment the  independence  of  the  civil  from  the  religious  official 
is  due  to  the  independence  of  worship  from  the  civil  power, 
or  to  express  it  more  concisely,  the  liberty  of  one  is  the  liberty 
of  the  other.  It  might  also  be  called  a  mutual  contract  of 
independence  and  protection  between  the  Government  and 
all  Religious  bodies  present  and  to  come. 

There  are  many  who  ascribe  this  state  of  things  to  the 
high  standard  of  the  political  spirit  compared  to  that  of  the 
old  world, — of  those  legislators  who  framed  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States ;  and  nearly  all  the  citizens  of  this 
country  pride  themselves  on  being  wiser  than  other  nations  in 
their  policy  regarding  Religion.  One  who  has  acquired  a 
clear  understanding  of  the  singular  circumstances  attending 
the  Declaration  of  American  Independence  will  readily  see 
that  to  these  circumstances  more  than  to  any  others,  is  due 
the  independence  of  religious  from  civil  affairs.  The  many 
religious  sects  that  were  existing  in  America  and  were  united 
in  the  struggle  for  freeing  themselves  from  the  yoke  of  Eng- 
land, the  example  of  so  many  bloody  wars  and  persecutions 


174    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

under  nearly  every  government  of  Europe  resulting  in 
these  new  sects  during  the  past  three  hundred  years;  the 
universal  longing  for  the  same  liberty  in  worship  as  that 
prized  so  dearly  in  civil  matters;  the  impossibility  of  adopt- 
ing one  sole  religion  or  of  forbidding  any  of  them, — these 
were  the  moving  causes  of  the  total  dissociation  of  legislative 
authority  from  the  religious  doctrines  and  modes  of  worship 
of  the  citizens  of  the  great  Republic  of  America.  To  the  same 
causes  is  due  this  day,  the  continuation  of  freedom  in  religious 
matters.  It  is  to  the  irresistible  force  of  the  circumstances 
just  noted  and  not  to  mere  human  wisdom  that  the  thoughtful 
observer  will  attribute  this  remarkable  state  of  affairs,  proba- 
bly the  only  example  in  the  world. 

In  a  country  where  the  people  constitutes  itself  the  su- 
preme legislator  through  its  representatives,  the  Government 
must  at  times  recognize  religious  authority  and  the  latter  not 
seldom  depends  upon  the  former,  according  to  the  ideas  of 
the  ruling  majority.  This  may  happen  in  particular  State  legis- 
latures, where  some  laws  might  concede  too  much  to  a  religious 
sect  or  sects  or  on  the  other  hand  curtail  their  liberty.  Such 
deviations  from  the  true  spirit  of  the  Constitution  would  be 
only  the  imperfections  inseparable  from  human  affairs. 

Some  have  thought  that  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  because  of  not  recognizing  any  particular  religion  must 
naturally  be  itself  skeptical  or  atheistic — a  most  false  conclu- 
sion in  our  case,  for  in  one  State  where  the  republican  system 
is  carried  out  in  full,  there  can  be  no  laws  for  direction  of  wor- 
ship there,  while  the  citizens  are  divided  on  the  matter  of  re- 
ligion. The  very  fact  that  the  civil  authority  is  obliged  to 
protect  the  citizen  in  the  practice  of  his  devotions  is  the  very 
strongest  proof  that  the  majority  is  religiously  inclined,  even 
though  by  reason  of  ignorance  and  error  of  the  people  they 
may  be  led  away  to  varied  and  false  doctrines.  Woe  to  that 
country  if  the  mass  of  its  people  shall  ever  become  unbeliev- 
ers! Then  will  religion  lose  that  protection  which  makes  it 
now  so  free  to  act,  and  enslaved  by  general  corruption,  its 
ruin  and  disintegration,  humanly  speaking,  will  be  irreparable. 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    175 

A  Republic  demoralized  is  worse  than  any  form  of  Gov- 
ernment whatever;  for  in  such  event  the  demoralization  of  the 
will  and  the  general  manner  of  living  will  take  upon  themselves 
the  force  of  laws.  In  a  real  Republic  the  loss  of  Religion  and 
the  general  corruption  of  morals  keep  pace  with  anarchy,  with 
dissolution  of  civil  society  and  at  last  with  absolute  despotism. 
This  might  not  be  the  case  in  a  Monarchical  Government,  which 
not  being  wholly  in  the  hands  of  the  people  might  if  guided  by 
wise  policy  and  helped  by  force  of  arms  preserve  some  degree 
of  order  even  if  the  masses  were  entirely  corrupted. 

Notwithstanding  the  freedom  of  worship  guaranteed  by 
the  Laws  of  the  Government  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
when  under  the  influence  of  blind  bigotry,  of  false  notions  and 
sometimes  of  mischievous  religious  sectarians  or  crafty  poli- 
ticians, are  at  times  guilty  of  violating  the  sanctity  of  Religious 
tolerance.  We  have  a  humiliating  example  of  this  in  the  burn- 
ing of  the  Ursuline  Convent  near  Boston  in  1835.  These  and 
other  riotous  demonstrations  are  not  enough  to  destroy  freedom 
of  worship,  because  they  are  acts  of  individuals  in  opposition  to 
the  laws  and  severely  condemned  by  these  laws.  Abuses  of 
liberty  might  even  insinuate  themselves  into  State  legislatures, 
and  even  into  the  National  Congress,  but  ever  contrary  to  the 
spirit  of  the  Constitution,  and  this  of  itself  would  deprive  them 
of  the  force  of  a  law. 

From  this  brief  explanation  of  the  spirit  of  the  civil  au- 
thority in  its  relation  to  all  the  forms  of  Religion  now  exist- 
ing or  to  exist,  the  reader  can  easily  comprehend  that  the  build- 
ing of  churches  is  no  more  a  matter  pertaining  to  the  laws, 
than  would  be  the  building  of  an  ordinary  house ;  and  that  the 
assembly  of  a  congregation  of  the  faithful,  the  organization  of 
a  parish  or  the  ecclesiastical  authority  of  a  Priest  has  no  more 
to  do  with  laws  than  would  the  meeting  of  a  few  friends  around 
a  festal  banquet  presided  over  by  the  head  of  the  family.  In 
the  great  Republic  of  North  America  one  may  build  a  hun- 
dred Catholic  churches  without  asking  for  permission  and 
may  convert  them  to  other  uses  if  it  so  please  him,  with  the 
same  ease.     For  the  same  reason  the  greatest  of  fanatics  is 


176    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

free  to  preach  a  new  religious  creed  and  organize  a  new  sect 
and  when  it  suits  him  may  change  it  for  another  absurdity. 
The  practical  consequences  to  Religion  resulting  from  the 
non-interference  of  governmental  authority  will  be  demon- 
strated more  fully  in  the  course  of  these  Memoirs. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  MISSIONARY  RARELY  HAS  THE  OPPORTU- 
NITY OF  APPROACHING  THE  SACRAMENT 
OF  PENANCE— ACCOUNT  OF  HIS  MINISTRY 
UNTIL  THE  SUMMER  OF  1836. 

Among  the  privations  which  a  Priest  must  bear  when 
isolated  in  far  countries,  that  most  keenly  felt  always  was 
the  deprivation  of  the  opportunity  for  frequent  Confession. 
In  fact  while  our  Missionary  was  occupied  in  the  building  of 
two  Churches,  from  the  month  of  June  until  the  following 
December  he  had  not  once  the  happiness  of  seeing  a  brother- 
Priest  to  whom  he  might  humbly  confess  his  faults.  There 
was  one  Priest  at  the  distance  of  two  hundred  miles  away, 
but  the  roads  and  all  the  circumstances  of  the  journey  were 
so  dangerous,  so  beset  with  difficulties,  that  the  journey  to 
the  city  of  Saint  Louis  proved  easier  and  took  less  time,  al- 
though it  was  distant  from  Galena  five  hundred  miles  by  way 
of  the  river  and  about  four  hundred  miles  overland.  The 
cold  season  having  arrived,  the  river  was  frozen  over,  and  at 
the  expense  of  many  days'  traveling  and  a  considerable  sum 
of  money,  he  was  obliged  to  follow  the  latter  route  in  order 
to  receive  the  spiritual  refreshment  of  the  Sacrament  of 
Penance. 

In  the  case  of  him  who  is  under  obligation  to  remain  con- 
stantly in  a  state  of  grace  for  the  celebration  of  the  Holy 
Sacrifice,  it  would  be  neither  prudent  nor  permissible  for  him 
to  remove  himself  far  from  the  opportunity  of  frequent  Con- 
fession; but  when  the  fulfilling  of  those  words  of  our  Lord 
"Go  ye  and  teach  all  nations"  separates  us  long  from  this  holy 
tribunal,  it  is  not  unreasonable  to  believe  and  hope,  first,  in  the 
existence  of  a  special  grace  preserving  the  preacher  of  the 

[  i77  ] 


178    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

Gospel  from  grave  faults,  when  he  is  faithful  to  the  high  du- 
ties of  his  calling;  and  secondly,  in  that  sorrow  that  in  his 
case  may  suffice  to  take  the  place  of  the  Sacrament  of  Con- 
fession. Without  such  confidence  in  this  special  grace  and 
in  this  abiding  sorrow,  there  would  be  no  God-fearing  soul 
able  to  acquire  that  Apostolic  zeal  which  has  moved  so  many 
from  all  ages  to  forsake  all  things,  that  he  might  proclaim 
the  truths  of  the  Gospel  to  the  very  ends  of  the  earth.  Now 
he  is  sure  that  on  the  borders  of  the  American  Republic  as  well 
as  in  many  remote  corners  of  the  different  States,  there  are 
many  Priests  of  the  Altar  who  for  the  sake  of  preserving 
and  propagating  the  Faith  are  toiling  at  such  a  distance  from 
each  other  that  they  are  unable  to  frequent  the  Sacrament  of 
Penance  oftener  than  three  or  four  times  a  year.  These 
taught  by  experience,  comprehend  the  supreme  advantage  of 
that  sacred  Tribunal,  which  in  Catholic  countries  is  often 
neglected  or  even  abused  by  those  who  have  access  thereto 
at  their  own  pleasure. 

On  his  return  to  his  scattered  little  flock,  the  Missionary 
devoted  himself  to  preaching  continence,  justice  and  the  desire 
of  the  gifts  of  Heaven  with  the  view  of  correcting  the  erring 
ways  of  those,  who,  deprived  of  means  of  grace,  had  been 
living  with  souls  all  relaxed  and  enervated  in  neglect  of  their 
eternal  salvation.  To  satisfy  the  good  desires  and  spiritual 
needs  of  all,  it  was  found  necessary  to  distribute  his  time  ac- 
cording to  the  different  seasons  between  the  two  little  cities 
of  Dubuque  and  Galena  and  their  environs,  but  for  the  most 
part  in  those  two  cities  where  the  Catholics  were  most  numer- 
ous. The  entire  month  of  February  was  spent  at  Prairie  du 
Chien  continuing  in  that  parish  of  more  than  five  hundred 
souls,  the  little  work  for  good  that  had  been  accomplished  the 
previous  year ;  during  this  visit  a  gift  was  received  from  a 
generous  citizen  of  the  place,  who  presented  a  tract  of  four 
acres  in  the  very  centre  of  the  town  for  the  erection  of  a 
Church ;  this  project,  however,  could  not  be  begun  before  the 
year  1839. 

Thus  occupied  in  his  Priestly  duties  he  passed  the  long 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    179 

winter,  and  at  the  solemnization  of  the  Feast  of  the  Resur- 
rection, saw  but  a  few  at  the  Holy  Table.  The  cause  of  this 
was  the  life  that  those  faithful  lead,  their  continual  associa- 
tion with  non-Catholics,  when  they  gradually  grow  lukewarm 
in  spiritual  matters  and  unfortunately  lose  those  leading  vir- 
tues in  which  they  used  to  abound,  and  lead  worse  lives, — 
above  all  when  they  are  destitute  of  Churches  wherein  the 
sacred  offices  and  the  preaching  of  God's  Word  contribute  to 
preserve  the  Faith  and  vivify  it  with  good  works.  The  labors 
and  fatigues  borne  by  the  Priests  of  the  Gospel  for  long  years, 
the  gain  among  souls,  these  all  stand  in  constant  risk  of  being 
lost.  The  lack  of  zealous  Priests,  of  Churches,  of  catechetical 
teaching,  of  good  example, — the  never-ceasing  attacks  by  the 
Protestant  ministers  upon  Catholic  truths,  the  assumed  piety 
of  many  who  merely  pretend  to  be  true  followers  of  the  Gos- 
pel, the  influence  of  numbers,  of  wealth  and  the  general  preva- 
lence of  sectarian  influence  and  of  many  other  circumstances 
of  the  same  nature  form  a  huge  stumbling-block  in  the  way 
of  the  poor  faithful,  making  them  totter  and  sometimes  cast- 
ing them  into  the  mire  of  skepticism.  To  all  this  must  be  add- 
ed the  sorrowful  effect  of  the  scandalous  conduct  of  some 
among  the  Catholics  in  the  very  midst  of  the  sectarians  who 
in  spite  of  their  many  dogmatic  errors,  believe  themselves  the 
true  disciples  of  the  Divine  Master;  and  as  facts  speak  a  lan- 
guage far  more  convincing  than  that  of  arguments,  the  sanc- 
tity and  Truth  of  the  Church  are  disfigured  in  the  eyes  of 
men  and  the  shade  of  Protestantism  wrapped  in  the  mantle  of 
virtue  is  taken  for  a  reality.  Now  it  must  not  be  believed  that 
reviving  the  Faith  and  inflaming  anew  the  devotion  of  cold 
and  indifferent  Catholics,  inviting  them  to  different  devotional 
exercises, — that  all  this  is  the  work  of  a  few  days  or  is  more 
easily  accomplished  than  the  conversion  of  pagans  to  the  Unity 
of  the  Church.  Experience  has  taught  our  Missionary  that 
the  reestablishment  of  Religion  in  the  regions  appointed  him 
by  Divine  Providence  has  required  more  sacrifices,  more  time, 
more  patience,  more  burning  words  than  were  required  for 
the  conversion  of  the  Indians. 


180    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

In  April,  1836,  the  Priest  traveled  a  second  time  to  the 
city  of  Saint  Louis  by  the  way  of  the  Mississippi  River,  and 
the  purpose  of  his  journey  as  before  was  to  seek  the  grace 
of  the  Sacrament  of  Penance.  On  the  return  voyage  about 
a  hundred  miles  from  Galena,  he  left  the  steamboat  in  order 
to  land  on  the  famous  island  called  Rock  Island,  where  at 
that  time  stood  a  Fort  to  keep  the  tribes  in  check.  Here  he 
celebrated  the  Divine  Mysteries,  after  which  he  crossed  over 
to  the  western  shore  of  the  River  to  administer  the  consola- 
tions of  our  holy  Religion  to  the  only  Catholic  family  dwelling 
there,  a  charming  spot,  formed  by  nature  herself  as  a  site  on 
that  gently  sloping  and  verdant  hill  of  that  young  city,  now 
with  more  than  a  thousand  inhabitants.  A  certain  Mr.  An- 
toine  Le  Claire,  a  man  of  most  amiable  temperament  and  ex- 
emplary character  had  his  home  there  in  the  midst  of  a  square 
mile  of  an  estate;  this  had  been  presented  to  him  in  his  char- 
acter of  a  lifelong  benefactor  and  faithful  interpreter  of  the 
united  tribes  of  the  Sacs  and  Foxes,  when  these  latter,  a  few 
years  before  had  ceded  to  the  United  States  Government  the 
lands  whereon  hitherto  they  had  dwelt,  on  the  borders  of  the 
Great  River. 


CHAPTER  VII 

A     BRIEF     ACCOUNT     OF     THE     CHURCHES     OF 
DUBUQUE  AND  GALENA. 

In  a  country  where  commerce,  the  arts,  the  cities  and  so- 
ciety itself,  are  yet  in  their  infancy,  the  erection  of  Churches 
becomes  a  work  not  only  of  grave  importance  to  the  cause  of 
the  Propagation  of  the  Faith,  it  is  besides  an  undertaking  not 
easy  of  accomplishment.  The  scarcity  of  necessary  means, 
the  inability  to  procure  on  the  spot  materials  that  are  abso- 
lutely indispensable,  the  exorbitant  charges  of  workmen,  with 
various  other  circumstances,  put  to  the  last  test  the  persever- 
ance and  application  of  one  who  strives  to  build  a  House  of 
God,  however  small.  This  was  the  state  of  things  when  in 
the  summer  of  1836,  the  walls  of  the  Church  of  Saint  Raphael, 
now  Cathedral  of  Dubuque  Diocese,  were  in  process 
of  erection.  The  contributions  of  the  preceding  year  were 
then  entirely  exhausted,  yet  the  Missionary  took  heart  with  all 
the  more  earnestness  and  never-ending  anxiety;  by  dint  of 
which,  little  by  little,  doing  the  office  of  collector,  of  super- 
intendent, of  architect,  of  watchful  inspector  or  accountant, 
of  treasurer,  and  sacrificing  unreservedly  every  trifle  that 
the  faithful  gave  to  the  Priest  in  the  name  of  charity,  he  had 
the  inexpressible  satisfaction  of  seeing  the  building  under 
cover  toward  the  last  of  September,  and  in  such  condition  that 
divine  service  could  be  suitably  conducted  therein. 

In  order  not  to  refer  to  this  subject  again  in  these  Memoirs 
it  may  be  stated  here  that  before  1839  the  Church  of  Dubuque 
had  already  cost  $5,000.00,  without  counting  the  labor  gratu- 
itously bestowed  by  many  of  the  faithful  or  any  expense  of 
conducting  the  work.  Of  this  sum  not  the  very  smallest  por- 
tion was  received  outside  the  limits  of  territory  over  which 

[181I 


182    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

the  Church  was  to  serve,  so  that  it  owed  its  existence  to  the 
great  unity  and  disinterestedness  which  prevailed. 

As  the  Missionary  was  occupied  during  the  summer  of 
1836  on  the  western  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  he  was  able  only 
with  much  difficulty  to  devote  part  of  his  time  to  urging  on  the 
building  of  the  Church  of  Saint  Michael  in  the  little  city  of 
Galena;  yet  of  that  also  several  feet  of  the  wall  were  raised, 
all  around.  The  Holy  Mysteries  were  celebrated  in  different 
houses  of  the  village  wherever  it  was  most  convenient,  but  to 
provide  a  more  suitable  and  permanent  place,  a  little  frame 
house  was  built  upon  the  Church  land  which  until  1839  served 
as  a  Chapel  and  dwelling  for  the  Priest.  The  expense  of  this 
most  useful   frame  building  was  $800.00. 

It  would  be  of  no  advantage  to  make  mention  of  the  various 
stations,  visits  and  missions  throughout  that  part  of  the  coun- 
try which  was  beginning  to  be  settled  by  emigrants,  for  from 
the  idea  already  given  of  the  circumstances  surrounding  the 
first  settlers  situated  on  the  borders  of  a  perfectly  wild  region, 
the  reader  may  be  able  to  judge  also  of  the  nature  of  the 
duties  incumbent  upon  the  Priest.  On  the  occasion  of  one  of 
his  customary  journeys  to  Saint  Louis  in  the  autumn  to  meet 
a  brother-Priest  and  go  to  Confession,  he  delayed  several 
days  near  Rock  Island  for  the  consolation  of  a  few  Catholics, 
who  as  will  be  seen  later  were  themselves  to  construct  a  little 
Church  within  the  next  year.  On  the  fifth  of  December,  the 
steamboat  that  was  struggling  against  the  current  of  the 
Mississippi,  completely  blocked  by  the  masses  of  ice  coming 
down  the  river,  and,  by  their  dangerous  momentum,  in  danger 
of  total  wreck,  was  forced  to  put  into  a  bay  on  the  shore  of 
a  little  island,  and  stay  there  for  the  rest  of  the  season.  The 
Priest  with  many  other  travelers  finally  reached  Galena  after 
a  journey  of  three  days  on  foot  across  a  country  then  unin- 
habited. This  little  circumstance  must  be  told  as  an  example 
of  the  supreme  respect  that  the  Irish  race  holds  for  the  Cath- 
olic Priest.  The  first  night  of  this  last  journey,  one  of  the 
Irishmen  courteously  observant,  seeing  the  Priest  lying  on 
the  bare  ground,  instantly  divested  himself  of  the  single  cov- 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    183 

ering  in  his  possession  and  brought  it  to  the  Missionary.  This 
voluntary  privation  in  such  extreme  need,  may  surely  be  called 
an  act  of  heroism  worthy  of  a  spiritual  and  everlasting  re- 
ward, for  did  not  our  Saviour  say  "Come,  ye  blessed  of  my 
Father,  take  possession  of  the  kingdom,  for  I  was  naked  and 
ye  clothed  Me."     (Matt.  XXV.) 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  TERRITORIAL  GOVERNMENT  OF  WISCONSIN 
IS  FORMED— THE  PRIEST  ATTENDS  THE 
FIRST  ASSEMBLY  OF  LEGISLATURE— HOW 
CHURCH  PROPERTY  IS  SECURED  BY  CIVIL 
LAW. 

By  an  Act  of  Congress  of  the  United  States,  held  in  the 
city  of  Washington,  capital  of  the  great  Republic,  during  the 
winter  of  1835-36,  the  Territory  of  Michigan,  then  extending 
to  the  west  as  far  as  the  Mississippi,  was  divided  to  form  the 
Territory  of  Wisconsin.  This  Territory  formed  from  Michi- 
gan is  bounded  on  the  east  by  Lake  Michigan,  on  the  west  by 
the  great  river;  on  the  north  it  borders  on  Canada,  on  the 
south,  the  State  of  Illinois.  Until  1838  the  Wisconsin  Terri- 
tory comprised  within  its  limits  the  vast  Territory  of  Iowa. 
The  first  Assembly  of  Legislature  was  held  in  the  early  part 
of  November  in  a  very  small  and  obscure  village,  called  Bel- 
mont. The  Legislative  body  of  a  Territory  is  composed  of 
thirteen  members  forming  the  Council,  and  of  twenty- 
six  other  members  who  compose  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives ;  all  of  these  are  elected  by  the  people  for  whom  they  are 
to  make  the  Territorial  Laws.  The  Governor  of  a  State  is 
elected  by  the  people  of  that  State;  in  a  Territory  the  Gov- 
ernor is  appointed  by  the  President  of  the  United  States. 

It  has  been  seen  in  Chapter  V  that  the  spirit  of  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  takes  no  cognizance  of  religious 
convictions  but  grants  all  religions  perfect  freedom ;  therefore 
Catholics  are  sometimes  chosen  by  the  majority  of  the  people 
to  occupy  the  first  official  positions  in  the  Republic.  In  Du- 
buque County  two  Catholics  obtained  the  majority  of  votes 
for  the  first  Legislature  of  Wisconsin;  the  Missionary  him- 

[184] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    185 

self  had  a  small  share  in  this  diplomatic  gathering,  having 
been  elected  to  make  a  speech  to  the  houses  before  the  reading 
of  the  Governor's  message.  He  opened  the  daily  sessions  of 
this  Legislature  with  prayer,  but  his  more  important  obliga- 
tions as  Priest  did  not  permit  him  to  perform  this  office  longer 
than  one  week.  Facts  like  these  prove  that  to  the  spirit  of 
the  great  Confederation  is  entirely  due  that  superior  liberty 
enjoyed  by  the  Catholic  Church  under  its  protection.  It  would 
be  difficult  to  find  in  the  history  of  any  country  whatsoever,  a 
diplomatic  body  wherein  Protestants  outnumbering  the  Catho- 
lics eighteen  to  one  have  conferred  upon  the  Minister  of  the 
Altar  the  office  of  Chaplain.  In  this  case,  even  if  one  chooses 
to  take  much  Religious  indifference  for  granted,  yet  he  must 
perforce  recognize  that  spirit  of  impartiality  in  the  organic 
laws  of  the  Government  which  severs  them  completely  from 
religious  functions. 

In  the  legislation  of  the  Territories,  of  the  States  and  of 
the  general  Government,  Catholicity,  as  well  as  all  the  religious 
sects,  can  obtain  civil  privileges  which  may  prove  useful  and 
even  necessary  to  the  security  and  prosperity  of  all  her  institu- 
tions, whether  colleges,  seminaries,  regular  corporations, 
church  buildings  and  such  like,  always  however,  so  far  as  in 
the  face  of  society  they  are  the  rights  of  one  or  more  in- 
dividuals. Since  the  governmental  authority  does  not  recog- 
nize ecclesiastical  dignity  or  authority  in  the  holding  of 
property,  but  simply  the  person  to  whom  the  property  belongs 
in  the  face  of  the  law,  so  whenever  a  religious  association 
deems  it  wise  to  secure  this  property  under  the  immediate 
care  and  control  of  that  association,  it  petitions  the  proper 
authorities  for  the  legalization  of  certain  rules  or  constitutions 
proposed  by  that  association.  Thus  each  of  the  various  institu- 
tions, religious  and  literary,  although  subject  to  the  authority 
and  superintendence  of  many  individuals,  in  presence  of  the 
law,  becomes  as  it  were  one  sole  individual,  in  the  very  same 
sense  as  do  the  mercantile  firms  recognized  by  the  laws  of  all 
the  governments.  In  this  way  Catholic  possessions  and  institu- 
tions in  the  United  States  while  independent  of  the  Govern- 


186    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHEIXI,  O.  P. 

ment  as  far  as  pertains  to  spiritual  affairs,  are  able  as  to  civil 
properties  and  associations  to  take  deep  root  and  lay  solid 
foundations  as  immovable  as  the  constitution  which  holds  firm 
the  Republic  itself.  One  who  feels  the  full  force  of  this  can 
readily  see  how  the  goods  of  the  Church  can  share  before  the 
law  in  that  stability  and  security  which  can  never  give  way 
unless  by  the  fall  of  the  government  itself. 

The  wisdom  of  the  first  Council  of  the  Bishops  of  the 
Province  of  the  United  States  which  was  held  in  the  month 
of  October,  1829,  in  order  to  prevent  any  inconvenience  which 
might  arise  in  future,  from  permitting  secular  persons  to  be- 
come owners  of  Church  buildings,  ordained  in  Decree  No.  5 
of  this  Council  that  no  Church  should  be  built  or  consecrated 
in  future,  without  being  first  given  over  in  writing,  to  the 
Bishop  of  the  Diocese,  for  the  purpose  of  Divine  Worship  and 
the  advantage  of  the  faithful.  But  as  there  may  exist  circum- 
stances wherein  this  Decree  might  not  easily  harmonize  with 
Religious  interests,  the  Council  has  added  "when  this  can  be 
done." 

This  Decree  however,  does  not  bind  the  Church  property  of 
the  Religious  Orders,  which  enjoy  in  America  all  the  privileges 
granted  by  Canon  Law  and  by  the  constitutions  of  the  Roman 
Pontiffs.  So  that  said  Orders  may  hold  their  Churches  and 
other  ecclesiastical  property  in  the  name  of  their  respective 
Superiors  dwelling  in  any  part  of  the  world,  or  in  the  name  of 
several  members  of  the  Community,  provided  these  obtain 
from  the  legislative  power  of  the  State  in  which  they  are,  an 
act  of  incorporation  as  a  moral  or  literary  association. 

The  title  or  the  holding  of  Church  property  put  into  the 
hands  of  one  individual,  whether  Bishop  or  Superior  of  a 
Religious  Order,  carries  with  it  this  grave  inconvenience;  for 
instance,  supposing  the  case  of  heavy  personal  debts,  of  bad 
management  or  even  of  lack  of  strict  honesty,  the  Church 
building,  Seminaries,  might  be  in  danger  of  passing  out  of  the 
control  of  the  Church,  for  the  reason  that  they  might  be  con- 
sidered  as   personal   property   of   an   individual   who   could, 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    187 

legally,  sell  them  or  give  them  away, —  or  be  deprived  of  them 
by  his  creditors.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  paternal  solicitude 
of  the  Supreme  Pontiff  will  soon  provide  for  the  greater 
security  of  Church  property  in  America. 


CHAPTER  IX 

LONG    JOURNEY    THROUGH    WISCONSIN    TERRI- 
TORY IN  A  SLEDGE  IN  1837. 

The  beautiful  broad  natural  prairies  of  Wisconsin  Terri- 
tory usually  offer  the  traveler  in  the  cold  season  an  easy  and 
commodious  passage  over  the  snow  which  covers  them  with  its 
white  mantle  for  the  space  of  many  months.  In  February, 
1837,  the  Missionary  took  advantage  of  this  curious  phase  of 
nature  to  make  a  journey  to  Green  Bay,  two  hundred  and  ten 
miles  from  Galena,  his  object  being  to  recover  some  articles 
needed  for  the  Church,  stored  there  two  years  before.  It  is 
not  easy  to  give  an  idea  of  a  course  of  four  hundred  and 
twenty  miles,  all  alone,  across  a  country  still  unbroken  and 
unsettled,  in  the  very  depth  of  winter  severity,  in  a  sledge 
drawn  by  a  single  horse,  crossing  prairies,  woods,  rivers, 
frozen  lakes,  over  a  road  at  times  smooth  and  easily  followed 
because  marked  by  the  tracks  of  many  other  vehicles,  at  other 
times  hardly  discernible  because  little  used  and  hidden  under 
the  snow  drifted  there  by  the  wind.  It  may  be  observed  that 
in  this  part  of  the  country  the  snow  is  seldom  so  deep  as  to 
render  the  road  too  hard  or  entirely  impassable;  so  in  winter 
the  highways  from  one  little  village  to  another  are  generally 
well  traced  through  the  snow  by  the  sledges  of  the  way- 
farers, while  in  the  vast  prairies  the  tracks  do  not  remain  plain 
and  well-defined  as  in  the  woods,  on  account  of  the  wind 
which  blows  there  as  it  does  over  the  sea,  and  carries  with  it 
the  frozen  snow  like  dust,  obliterating  in  an  instant  the  tracks 
just  made.  Many  are  the  difficulties  to  be  encountered  by  the 
inexperienced  traveler;  there  are  streams  with  high  banks 
and  of  course  with  no  bridge,  whose  waters  fed  by  springs 
near,  do  not  freeze  over;  the  ice  is  not  always  solid  upon  the 

r  188] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    189 

lakes  and  is  very  treacherous  and  dangerous  on  certain  rivers ; 
in  the  hollows  of  the  undulating  prairie  the  snow  is  often 
drifted  by  the  wind  in  a  mass  to  the  depth  of  six  or  seven  feet. 
The  greatest,  most  dreaded  peril  on  these  vast  prairies 
is  caused  by  the  falling  snow,  so  as  to  completely  cover 
the  track,  and  shutting  out  the  slightest  view  of  the  surround- 
ings, even  of  east  and  west;  desperate  is  the  condition  then 
of  one  who  finds  himself  in  such  a  strait  when  the  fury  of  the 
freezing  wind,  with  the  dense,  powdery  snow,  so  confuses  him 
that  he  loses  his  way  and  is  forced  in  spite  of  himself  to  stop 
his  horse  under  the  stormy  sky,  and  wait  until  the  fury  of  the 
storm  passes  by.  In  these  desperate  straits  many  are  found 
frozen  to  death.  The  prudent  forethought  which  counts  its 
steps  before  taking  them,  and  prepares  for  possible  dangers 
will  ordinarily  prevent  misfortunes  of  this  nature. 

On  the  occasion  of  this  journey,  the  Priest  visited  his 
Menominee  Indians  who  were  engaged  in  fishing  at  Lake 
Winnebago;  great  was  the  consolation  and  spiritual  gladness 
he  experienced  seeing  again  those  good  Christians  whom  he 
had  won  but  a  few  years  before  from  the  superstitions  of 
the  savage  to  the  truths  of  the  Gospel,  and  on  their  part 
his  presence  gave  them  the  greatest  delight.  To  sanctify  such 
a  meeting,  forty-two  of  them  received  from  his  hands  that 
Heavenly  Bread  which  divinely  unites  hearts  in  the  love  of 
Jesus  Christ.  As  he  made  his  way  towards  his  destination,  he 
stopped  at  various  stations  to  provide  for  the  spiritual  needs 
of  the  Catholics  dispersed  throughout  the  western  part  of  the 
Territory.  He  who  bears  the  word  of  Truth  should  imitate 
his  Divine  Master,  Who  went  about  doing  good,  lightening  the 
burdens  of  the  heavy-laden  and  sore  oppressed. 


CHAPTER  X 

DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  CITY 
OF  DAVENPORT  ON  THE  MISSISSIPPI— HOW 
CULTURE  AND  THE  ELEGANCIES  OF  LIFE 
ARE  INTRODUCED  INTO  THE  NEWLY 
FOUNDED  CITY. 

One  who  has  lived  long  enough  in  the  Western  States  and 
particularly  in  those  just  settled,  has  been  eyewitness  of  the 
sowing  of  those  first  seeds  which  later  grow  into  the  great 
city.  Where  he  now  paces  streets  regular  and  filled  with  noise 
of  traffic,  a  few  years  before  he  was  gazing  at  nature  in  all 
her  simplicity  and  silence.  This  growth,  budding  and  blos- 
soming as  it  were,  of  cities,  carries  one's  imagination  back  to 
the  living  complete  picture  of  what  were  once  the  sites  of  the 
proud  old  world  centers,  before  man  decreed  to  build  his 
dwelling  there. 

Among  the  most  beautiful  and  charming  sites  on  the  west- 
ern bank  of  the  Mississippi  is  that  one  opposite  the  famous 
Rock  Island,  more  than  a  hundred  miles  from  Dubuque  down 
the  river;  nature  herself  seems  to  have  shaped  this  regular 
verdant  slope  girdled  and  shielded  by  hills,  that  man  might 
raise  a  city  there.  A  certain  M.  Antoine  Leclaire,  a  devout 
Catholic,  noted  no  less  for  his  integrity,  than  for  his  wealth, 
for  many  years  had  his  happy  home  there,  alone  with  his  wife, 
and  held  his  estate  of  a  square  mile  along  the  river;  this  had 
been  presented  him  as  a  free  gift  by  the  tribes  of  the  Sacs  and 
Foxes  in  their  gratitude  towards  their  faithful  friend  and 
interpreter  and  beneficent  adviser  on  the  occasion  of  the  ced- 
ing of  that  section  to  the  United  States  Government. 

It  was  in  1836  that  Mr.  Leclaire  began  to  convert  his  estate 
into  a  city,  which  he  named  Davenport,  which  was  first  de- 

[190] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    191 

signed  upon  a  map  with  streets  straight  and  of  noble  breadth, 
leaving  at  regular  intervals  spaces  for  squares  and  public 
buildings,  with  a  broad  spacious  expanse  on  the  river  front 
for  commercial  purposes.  His  faith  did  not  let  him  forget 
the  cause  of  Religion,  for  in  the  city  he  was  planning  he 
devoted  a  square  in  an  advantageous  position,  for  the  erection 
of  a  Church.  Many  speculators  and  others  desiring  to  enjoy 
the  advantages  offered  to  the  first  settlers  in  a  new  country, 
in  1836  bought  an  immense  tract  of  land  near  the  new  city 
of  Davenport,  and  many  and  various  were  the  frame  houses 
raised  there  before  the  spring  of  the  next  year.  The  emi- 
grants who  for  two  or  three  years  before,  like  colonists  with 
their  families,  had  been  dispersed  throughout  the  vast  extent 
of  Iowa  and  near  the  river  had  given  a  great  impulse  to  the 
trade  which  in  that  section  all  centered  in  Davenport.  Thus 
the  farmers  gave  the  young  city  its  importance,  and  this  in 
turn  served  to  make  their  condition  more  convenient  and 
agreeable,  and  their  farms  more  profitable,  because  brought 
into  the  neighborhood  of  trade.  This  mutual  advantage  made 
the  welfare,  prosperity  and  material  riches  of  both. 

It  is  a  circumstance  worthy  of  note,  that  in  the  young 
cities  of  America,  where  the  Indian  has  abandoned  the  country, 
culture  enters  with  the  very  first  settlers;  this  happens  from 
the  fact  that  these  settlers  with  their  families  come  from 
other  large  cities  and  are  expert  merchants,  lawyers,  physicians, 
mechanics  of  all  trades,  in  a  word,  they  are  members  of  a  little 
society  who  change  their  place  of  abode  in  the  hope  of  better- 
ing their  conditions.  The  first  who  make  up  the  city  are 
usually  men  who  having  suffered  losses  elsewhere,  seek  to 
retrieve  them  by  retrenching  in  business  and  practising 
economy ;  young  physicians  and  lawyers  more  easily  find  prac- 
tice there  where  they  are  alone  in  their  particular  sphere ;  the 
building  of  many  houses  employs  more  workmen  and  at  better 
wages;  this  is  the  reason  of  their  emigration.  There  is  an- 
other numerous  class,  often  well  educated  and  in  good  cir- 
cumstances who  bring  their  families  to  the  new  city,  and  these 
are  the  aspirants   to  political   offices.     In    America   with   its 


192    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

peculiar  system  of  legislation,  everything  is  organized  quickly 
and  easily;  the  country  is  at  once  divided  into  counties,  and 
the  cities,  no  matter  how  small,  have  the  same  privileges  as 
the  largest  of  them;  the  people  of  the  State  or  Territory  elect 
the  members  of  their  legislative  bodies,  the  counties  elect  the 
officials  needed  for  establishing  good  order  and  keeping  the 
peace  among  the  citizens ;  those  who  live  within  the  limits 
of  the  city  appoint  their  own  authorities.  Nevertheless,  to 
occupy  these  various  offices  whence  is  derived  some  gain  and 
honor,  many  enter  the  western  country  with  the  first  settlers 
in  order  to  secure  their  esteem  and  good  will. 

The  newspaper  is  not  last  with  its  editors  and  printing 
presses  in  the  new  villages ;  it  is  a  common  thing  even  where 
only  four  or  five  hundred  citizens  can  be  counted ;  for  politics 
in  which  everybody  takes  part,  is  the  daily  bread  which  feeds 
or  supports  those  newspapers  that  in  America  find  their  way 
into  the  houses  of  the  poorest  and  most  illiterate  as  well  as  of 
the  men  of  letters. 

There  are  two  causes  beside  those  already  mentioned, 
which  contribute  to  facilitate  the  founding  of  new  cities ;  one 
is  the  Postal  System  which  in  the  United  States  penetrates, 
as  best  it  can,  into  wilds  where  only  a  dozen  of  families  can 
be  found;  in  this  way  even  in  new  and  sparsely  settled  coun- 
tries a  man  is  put  several  times  a  week  into  touch  with  all 
affairs,  political,  literary  or  business,  that  take  place  in  the 
great  Republic.  The  other  element  that  promotes  the  estab- 
lishment of  towns  is  the  absence  of  walls,  of  gates,  of  tolls 
which  are  always  burdensome  to  the  traveler,  the  trader  or 
the  citizen.  Taxes  are  entirely  national  here.  The  States, 
accordingly,  the  country  and  the  cities  are  in  free  communica- 
tion with  one  another,  without  the  least  hindrance.  In  this 
way  the  prosperity  of  trade  is  not  dependent  upon  personal 
rights  or  legal  privileges,  but  simply  upon  local  advantages 
and  industry.  Almost  all  the  American  cities  owe  their  origin 
to  the  industry  of  their  citizens,  and  to  their  taking  advantage 
of  the  beautiful  or  suitable  sites  presented  by  nature  herself 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    193 

in  every  form  adapted  to  that  phase  of  trade  that  serves  the 
wants  of  the  people. 

But  coming  back  to  our  story;  the  Missionary  with  the 
assistance  of  Mr.  Leclaire,  principal  proprietor  of  the  new 
city  of  Davenport,  in  the  month  of  April,  1837,  laid  the  first 
stone  of  the  church  which  was  called  Saint  Anthony's.  The 
first  bricks  manufactured  in  the  place  were  used  in  the  con- 
struction of  this  building,  which  was  only  forty  feet  by  twenty- 
five,  and  built  with  two  stories,  so  as  to  accommodate  on  the 
lower  floor,  a  Priest,  who  later  made  his  home  there. 

In  1837  Davenport  numbered  one  hundred  inhabitants,  one- 
fourth  of  whom  were  Catholics;  in  1843  ^  numbered  more 
than  twelve  hundred,  with  about  three  hundred  Catholics, 
and  possessed  five  Churches  of  different  denominations,  a  fine 
hotel,  a  courthouse  (for  it  is  at  present  the  county  seat),  sev- 
eral school-buildings, — people  devoted  to  trades  and  to  luxury, 
professions  of  every  kind,  a  flourishing  trade  with  smaller 
towns  in  the  interior,  two  weekly  newspapers  and  literary 
associations.  One  who  saw  in  1835  the  tepees  of  the  poor 
Indian  dotting  the  verdant  plain,  and  sees  it  now  covered  with 
new  buildings  of  brick,  presenting  to  the  traveller's  view  a 
gay  symmetrical  city  where  many  elegant  steamers  land,  is 
tempted  to  wonder  if  what  passes  before  his  eyes  is  not  an 
illusion  rather  than  a  reality.  The  plain  whereon  Davenport 
is  built  is  not  the  only  one  to  undergo  so  great  a  transforma- 
tion, but  the  hills  which  surround  it  and  the  sweep  of  country 
for  many  miles  around,  which  only  a  few  years  ago  was  feed- 
ing ground  for  wild  beasts,  are  now  studded  with  dwellings, 
are  reduced  by  industry  to  rich  cultivated  fields,  providing 
sustenance  for  every  species  of  domestic  animal.  If  seven 
years  has  wrought  such  changes,  what  will  Davenport  be  in 
half  a  century?  The  beautiful  city  of  Cincinnati  on  the  Ohio 
River  furnishes  an  answer  to  this  question;  it  has  enjoyed  but 
sixty  years  of  existence  and  at  this  present  time  will  number 
more  than  fifty  thousand  inhabitants  within  its  circuit. 

Although  not  every  American  city  can  boast  of  so  pros- 
perous a  beginning  or  possess  the  same  possibilities  of  speedy 


194    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

growth,  yet  it  is  a  historical  truth  that  all  these  new  towns  owe 
their  existence  to  the  immense,  unrestrained  immigration  of  the 
people,  bringing  with  them  those  gifts,  both  intellectual  and 
mechanical,  that  go  to  the  formation  of  a  cultured  society. 
How  great  is  the  need  then  that  our  holy  Religion  should 
closely  attend  the  giant  growth  of  this  new  world  we  shall 
treat  of  later.  Just  now  it  will  suffice  to  remark  that  the 
little  Catholic  Church  of  Davenport  was  finished  during  the 
spring  of  1838  and  a  worthy  Priest  officiated  there  since  1839, 
but  at  this  present  time  it  does  not  accommodate  half  of  the 
parishioners ;  so  some  measures  have  already  been  taken  for 
the  erection  of  a  large  new  Church  that  will  hold  fifteen  hun- 
dred. That  church  built  in  1837  at  the  cost  of  more  than  two 
thousand  dollars  will  serve  as  a  habitation  for  the  Priest  and 
for  school  purposes.  And  thus  in  a  few  years  do  matters 
grow  and  change  in  the  New  World. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  PROTESTANT  MINISTERS  IN  THE  WESTERN 
STATES  AND  THEIR  PREACHING— EFFECTS 
OF  A  RELIGIOUS  EXCITEMENT— ADVAN- 
TAGES OF  THE  CATHOLIC  PRIEST  OVER  THE 
MINISTER  IN  MISSION  WORK. 

The  arrival  of  a  number  of  Protestant  ministers  in  1837 
in  the  regions  that  the  Priest  had  been  visiting,  affords  to  the 
compiler  of  these  Memoirs  a  favorable  opportunity  to  give 
some  account  of  their  mission,  character,  preaching  and  way 
of  making  a  livelihood,  which  may  serve  to  give  an  idea  of 
the  people  by  whom  he  was  surrounded. 

There  is  no  corner,  however  remote,  that  a  settler  has 
reached,  where  a  minister  of  some  sect  has  not  made  his  voice 
heard,  extolled  the  Bible  as  the  sole  rule  of  Faith,  directed  his 
enthusiastic  prayers  to  Heaven  and  of  course  in  one  way  or 
another,  vilified  the  Catholic  Church.  The  axe  that  hews 
down  the  first  trees  and  clears  the  road  for  the  emigrants 
cannot  always  boast  of  first  breaking  the  profound  silence 
of  wild  nature,  for  not  seldom  has  it  been  preceded  by  the 
loud  and  boisterous  voice  of  the  religious  fanatic.  Among 
the  first  to  settle  country  places  in  the  West  are  many  ministers 
of  different  sects  but  principally  Methodists  and  Baptists,  who 
with  their  families  while  seeking  in  the  possession  of  the  land 
and  in  trade  for  a  little  of  the  kingdom  of  this  world,  on 
Sundays,  preach  that  of  the  other.  In  this  way  while  losing 
nought  of  the  advantages  of  secular  life,  over  and  above  this, 
they  draw  from  the  Gospel  that  moderate  gain  and  that 
influence  in  society  which  may  serve  to  the  well-being  of  their 
usually  numerous  offspring.  We  must  not  be  astonished  then, 
if  everywhere  in  the  New  World,  we  meet  so  many  ministers 

[195] 


196    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

and  so  few  Priests.  This  results  from  different  causes;  for 
instance,  the  greater  number  of  Protestants,  and  the  assistance 
supplied  by  their  various  societies  to  those  who  leave  the 
populous  cities  for  the  purpose  of  exercising  the  ministry  of 
preaching  in  the  most  remote  districts  of  the  Republic. 

Generally  speaking,  those  ministers  who  live  in  those  dis- 
tricts, on  the  borders  of  civilization  are  well  versed  in  the 
letter  of  the  English  translation  of  the  Bible  and  possess  great 
facility  in  speaking  acquired  by  constant  practice;  but  apart 
from  this  they  possess  very  little  erudition,  they  do  not  study 
theology  at  all,  the  history  of  the  Christian  Religion,  the  origin 
and  dogmas  of  the  Protestant  Reformation.  The  Methodist 
and  Baptist  sects  which  predominate  over  the  most  illiterate 
class,  naturally  have  a  greater  number  of  preachers  whose 
eloquence  consists  in  much  noisy  speaking,  in  quoting  the 
Bible  in  every  sense  that  may  suit  them,  in  uttering  the  name 
of  Jesus  constantly,  in  inveighing  furiously  against  sinners 
without  explaining  morality,  in  inviting  every  one  to  conver- 
sion through  simple  Faith  in  the  Saviour,  in  extolling  the 
word  of  the  Gospel,  and  readily  promising  Paradise  to  their 
hearers.  In  vain  might  one  seek  throughout  their  discourses 
for  one  word  on  the  unity  of  the  Faith,  the  doctrine  of  pen- 
ance, the  obligation  of  restitution,  obedience  to  the  Church, 
the  necessity  of  any  Sacrament  of  which  they  know  only  "The 
Lord's  Supper"  and  Baptism  as  mere  symbols.  To  make  up 
for  this  lack,  they  do  not  fail  to  render  their  speaking  more 
agreeable  and  impressive  to  their  hearers  by  mingling  therein 
all  ridicule,  calumny,  insult  and  hatred  against  the  Catholic 
Church,  by  persuading  the  ignorant  that  the  Church  is  Anti- 
christ, and  proving  it  by  the  prophecy  of  the  Apocalypse.  The 
ministers  also  possess  a  peculiar  art,  or  rather  trick,  which 
enables  them  at  their  meetings  to  weep  whenever  they  please 
and  to  pass  from  grave  to  gay  with  the  utmost  facility  and 
quickness.  This  peculiar  mode  of  eloquence  which  is  decided- 
ly their  own,  is  accompanied  by  loud  cries,  prayers,  exclama- 
tions, sobs,  frenzies,  trembling,  sweats,  contortions  and  all 
that  the  violent  commotions  of  a  strangely  troubled  soul  can 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    197 

produce  in  the  body  which  is  its  victim.  The  influence  that 
some  of  the  ministers  obtained  by  this  means  over  religious 
fanatics,  over  the  youth,  the  hypocrite,  in  a  special  manner 
over  the  weaker  sex,  could  not  be  easily  described  by  one  who 
was  not  an  eyewitness ;  suffice  it  to  say  that  the  audience  often 
broke  out  into  violent  weeping,  cries  and  ejaculations,  so  as 
to  drown  the  preacher's  voice.  This  is  called  by  them  the 
work  of  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord,  which  enters  into  and  takes 
possession  of  the  souls  of  the  elect,  justifies  them,  washes  away 
all  their  sins,  putting  into  their  hearts  that  true  love  of  our 
Saviour,  manifested  by  certain  and  visible  signs  of  the  opera- 
tion of  the  same  Spirit. 

The  Priest  had  occasion  of  seeing  the  disastrous  effects  of 
the  rousing  of  this  religious  frenzy  in  the  city  of  Burlington, 
Iowa; — it  was  at  a  "Revival,"  or  "Reviving  of  the  spirit,"  as 
it  is  called  by  the  Methodist  sect,  during  which  for  the  space 
of  eight  days  or  more,  several  ministers  preach  many  times 
a  day,  principally  however  at  evening  until  nearly  midnight. 
Preaching,  praying  and  singing  are  carried  on  at  any  or  every 
hour,  according  as  the  spirit  moves  the  preacher  or  the 
audience;  this  exercise  becomes  so  animated  that  it  excites 
many  persons,  women  especially,  to  leave  their  places,  to  rush 
from  place  to  place  here  and  there,  and  finally  to  leap  into 
the  air,  to  shriek  and  weep,  attributing  it  all  to  the  work  of  the 
Divine  Spirit.  Among  the  victims  of  this  diabolical  illusion, 
a  spectacle  to  excite  as  much  compassion  as  horror,  he  saw  a 
woman  who  fainted  and  after  vain  attempts  had  been  made  to 
restore  her,  the  bystanders  had  to  carry  her  to  her  own  home. 
Another  in  the  course  of  the  night  fell  into  a  swoon  and 
remained  till  morning  lying  on  a  bench  like  one  dead,  entirely 
destitute  of  sensation ;  when  they  finally  carried  her  home,  it 
was  found  impossible  to  put  her  in  a  carriage  on  account  of  the 
rigidity  of  her  figure.  The  more  easily  impressed  and  the 
most  powerful  in  the  matter  of  praying,  weeping,  sighing  and 
being  moved  and  convulsed  by  the  "spirit"  are  not  always  the 
more  moral  among  them, — for  it  often  happened  that  they  had 
to  be  expelled   from  the  meeting,  as  happened  to  one  who 


198    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

seemed  always  more  inspired  than  the  others,  and  could 
lengthen  out  her  enthusiastic  prayers  and  hymns  for  entire 
days  without  any  intermission.  Behold  how  God's  Justice 
punishes  those  who,  forsaking  the  Church  of  Christ,  become 
the  prey  of  Religious  fanaticism  and  the  impostors  of  so 
many  sects  of  our  day! 

Since  1837  the  Presbyterians  or  Calvinists  sent  out  many 
ministers  into  the  villages  along  the  Mississippi  and  they  failed 
not  from  the  press  and  from  the  pulpit  to  falsify  the  Catholic 
Church  unceasingly.  Few  are  the  Anglicans  and  ministers  of 
the  other  denominations,  for  the  reason  that  the  teachings  of 
the  Methodists  and  Baptists  are  more  fanatical  and  more 
tumultuous  in  their  expression,  and  so  appeal  more  strongly  to 
the  simple  people  in  the  country  places  and  generally  speaking, 
to  the  most  ignorant  who  are  more  readily  influenced  by  loud 
words  and  cries  than  by  good  sense. 

A  religion  which  has  no  exterior  form  of  worship  as 
Protestantism,  can  be  fully  established  in  all  its  requirements 
without  altar,  sacred  appurtenances  or  church ;  preaching  with 
the  accompaniment  of  prayer,  and  the  singing  of  hymns  only, 
can  be  carried  on  with  utmost  facility  either  within  walls,  or 
in  the  open  air;  beyond  this,  since  in  their  Churches  there  is 
no  authority,  which  can  bind  the  conscience  and  speak  to  it  in 
the  Name  of  God,  so  the  followers  of  these  sects  are  not 
obliged  under  sin  to  assist  at  the  public  assemblies.  From 
these  facts  it  follows  that  Protestants  have  a  far  greater 
facility  in  exercising  their  ministry  than  has  the  Catholic 
Priest,  to  whom  there  is  absolute  need  of  sacred  accompani- 
ments to  worship,  and  of  altars  for  the  celebration  of  the 
holy  Sacrifice  of  the  New  Law,  and  above  all,  he  must  needs 
be  armed  with  Charity,  with  Zeal,  with  Apostolic  spirit  and 
daring,  which  will  sacrifice  itself  to  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel,  to  the  conquest  of  souls  with  no  recompense  except  the 
merit  of  the  labor,  and  which  for  conscience's  sake  will  strive 
to  extend  the  boundaries  of  the  true  Church  and  the  King- 
dom of  God. 

Yet  spite  of  the  difficulties  as  to  Altar.  Chalice.  Altar  Stone, 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELL1,  O.  P.    199 

Missal,  which  attend  the  lot  of  the  Missionary,  his  condition 
in  this  regard  is  infinitely  superior  to  that  of  maintaining  a 
wife  and  family  in  new  countries.  Only  the  minister  can 
describe  his  own  anxieties  and  miseries,  when  he  is  forced 
to  depend  upon  a  poor  and  wide-scattered  flock  to  whom  he 
preaches  the  Gospel,  for  the  support  of  his  household.  Out- 
side the  cities  he  rarely  finds  means  for  a  livelihood  without 
following  some  other  occupation  in  addition  to  that  of  preach- 
ing the  Word  of  God;  necessity  and  his  love  for  his  children 
force  him  to  put  his  hand  to  the  plough,  entangle  him  in  the 
labyrinths  of  business  matters,  often  to  the  occupation  of  car- 
penter, bricklayer,  smith  and  other  trades.  This  combination 
of  the  clerical  with  the  matrimonial  state  results  in  making 
the  former  serve  the  interests  and  advantages  of  a  family 
which  imperiously  demand  from  him  a  subsistence;  so  the 
ministry  becomes  a  mere  accessory  to  the  great  cares  and 
anxieties  inseparable  from  married  life. 

How  much  more  advantageous  to  the  people  and  how  much 
less  costly  is  the  celibate  life  of  the  Catholic  Priest  in  these 
remote  and  unsettled  districts,  is  evident  from  the  fact  that 
the  Missionary  to  whom  these  Memoirs  refer,  although  alone 
and  without  any  outside  assistance,  found  wherever  he  was, 
the  food  and  clothing  that  were  needed.  In  the  families  of 
the  faithful  it  was  considered  the  greatest  delight  and  held 
as  a  great  honor  to  receive  and  entertain  the  Priest  whose 
wants  are  so  few;  then  too,  on  a  journey  it  rarely  happened 
that  he  incurred  expense ;  most  of  the  captains  of  the  steam- 
boats running  on  the  Mississippi  refused  to  accept  fare  from 
him  whom  they  knew  to  be  employing  all  his  time  and  labor 
for  religious  motives  only;  at  least  two-thirds  of  his  many 
enforced  journeys  were  made  without  any  expense,  trusting 
in  Divine  Providence.  In  the  same  way,  clothing  was  pre- 
sented to  him  by  the  pious  benevolence  of  the  Catholics,  a  thing 
which  could  not  be  done  for  the  numerous  family  of  a  Protes- 
tant minister.  The  Catholic  Missionary,  being  unencumbered 
with  those  anxieties  which  extend  beyond  one's  own  person 
and  into  the  future,  after  the  necessities  have  been  provided, 


200    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

if  there  should  accrue  to  him  anything  in  the  matter  of  gifts, 
can  and  must  devote  them  to  the  good  of  Religion ;  while  the 
minister  who  is  a  father  in  the  missions  of  the  Western 
States  must  devote  any  superfluity  to  the  future  needs  of  his 
children.  From  all  this  it  follows  that  a  zealous  Priest  will 
find  means  to  support  life  when  a  Protestant  minister  with  a 
far  greater  number  of  followers,  is  forced  to  wrest  a  sub- 
sistence from  some  missionary  society  or  from  the  labor  of 
his  own  hands.  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  said  that  a  good 
Shepherd  sacrifices  for  the  good  of  his  flock  his  own  affec- 
tions, his  own  peace,  his  own  life  and  with  glad  heart.  With 
anxious  care  to  lead  them  to  rich  pastures  he  ever  walks  at 
the  head  of  his  flock,  often  raising  his  voice  to  keep  them  from 
straying  and  that  the  wolf  may  not  take  them  unawares ;  he 
spares  no  toil,  and  is  ever  on  the  watch  prepared  for  meeting 
an  attack  upon  his  flock.  But  in  these  words  of  the  Divine 
Master  who  does  not  recognize  the  picture  of  the  Catholic 
Missionary  elected  to  increase  the  spiritual  riches  of  the 
Faith  ? 


CHAPTER  XII 

CREATION  OF  THE  BISHOPRIC  OF  DUBUQUE 
IN  1837. 

The  emigration  of  thousands  of  families  from  the  Eastern 
States  of  the  American  Union  and  from  Europe,  settling  on 
the  western  border  of  Illinois,  Wisconsin  and  in  the  Terri- 
tory of  Iowa,  in  the  years  1835,  1836  and  1837,  had  so  aug- 
mented the  numbers  of  the  Catholics  in  the  Priest's  Mission, 
that  he  found  it  difficult  and  almost  impossible  to  provide 
even  insufficiently  for  the  spiritual  comforts  of  them  all.  He 
was  unable  to  remain  longer  than  ten  or  fifteen  days  con- 
secutively in  any  one  station ;  the  care  of  the  sick  in  many  and 
widely-separated  localities,  and  his  anxiety  over  temporal  mat- 
ters connected  with  the  building  of  the  Churches  made  the 
disposition  of  his  time  a  point  of  grave  anxiety  wherever  he 
happened  to  go.  The  Bishop  of  Saint  Louis,  Monsignore 
Joseph  Rosati,  had  it  in  mind  to  send  him  an  assistant  Priest, 
but  was  unable  to  carry  out  his  intention. 

On  the  occasion  of  the  Triennial  Council  of  the  Bishops  of 
the  United  States  held  in  Baltimore,  in  May,  1837,  Monsi- 
gnore Rosati  proposed  to  his  brethren  in  the  Episcopacy  to 
raise  the  small  but  rapidly  growing  city  of  Dubuque  into  an 
Episcopal  See  of  one  new  Diocese  formed  out  of  the  vast  Terri- 
tory of  Iowa,  which  was  then  part  of  Wisconsin.  The  assem- 
bled Fathers  of  the  venerable  Council  gave  their  approbation, 
and  in  the  following  August,  it  was  recognized  and  con- 
firmed with  other  Acts  of  that  Council  by  the  Apostolic 
See;  and  the  Very  Reverend  Mathias  Loras,  already  Vicar 
General  of  the  Diocese  of  Mobile  in  Alabama  for  many  years, 
was  appointed  with  solemn  decree  by  the  same  Apostolic  Au- 
thority, first  Bishop  of  the  new  See. 

[201] 


202    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

It  was  only  on  the  tenth  day  of  December,  1837,  that  the 
Reverend  Mathias  Loras  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Dubuque 
in  the  City  of  Mobile  by  Monsignore  Michael  Portier.  The 
new  Prelate  then  set  out  for  Europe  for  the  purpose  of  find- 
ing laborers  for  his  Vineyard  and  the  necessary  means  in- 
dispensable in  a  country  where  everything  was  to  be  estab- 
lished in  order  and  harmony.  During  the  long  absence  of  this 
Prelate,  the  Missionary  who  had  been  appointed  by  him  as 
his  Vicar  General,  exercised  in  the  Diocese  that  ecclesiastical 
authority  necessary  in  the  case  of  the  absence  of  its  proper 
Pastor.  Monsignore  Loras,  when  he  was  in  Rome,  in  the 
month  of  May,  1838,  petitioned  the  Most  Reverend  P.  Angelo 
Ancarani,  at  that  time  Master  General  of  the  Order  of  Preach- 
ers, that  he  would  permit  the  said  Vicar  to  remain  in  his 
Diocese  and  in  those  Missions  wherein  he  had  last  exercised 
the  ministry.  This  request  was  with  all  good  will  complied 
with  by  the  pious  and  learned  Master,  ever  zealous  for  the 
fulfillment  of  the  Divine  Will  and  the  Propagation  of  the 
Faith. 

This  circumstance,  a  Diocese  just  created  in  a  country 
only  a  few  years  before  the  abode  of  many  savage  tribes,  may 
serve  to  give  a  just  idea  of  the  progress  both  ecclesiastical 
and  civil  of  the  American  Republic.  It  was  in  June,  1833, 
that  the  first  cabin  was  raised  on  the  site  where  now  is  built 
the  City  of  Dubuque.  On  the  fifteenth  day  of  August,  1835, 
was  laid  the  corner  stone  of  a  Church,  and  just  two  years 
after,  in  August,  1837,  the  place  was  raised  to  the  dignity 
of  a  Bishopric  by  the  Apostolic  See ;  so  in  the  brief  space  of 
four  years,  the  spot  which  had  first  been  the  haunt  of  beasts 
and  the  solitary  feeding-ground  of  roving  herds,  became  a 
city  of  more  than  a  thousand  souls  and  an  Apostolic  Chair,  by 
whose  authority  the  saving  bread  of  Gospel  Truth  was  dis- 
tributed to  the  faithful.  This  fact  would  have  little  signifi- 
cance if  it  were  the  work  of  a  legislative  act  or  some  powerful 
individual,  but  as  the  combination  of  the  temporal  interests  of 
the  people  and  the  interests  of  Religion,  it  deserves  to  be 
considered  under  this  two-fold  aspect. 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    203 

To  the  free  emigration  of  people  from  every  nation  in 
the  world  to  any  point  in  the  United  States  where  they  believe 
they  can  better  their  condition,  may  be  attributed  the  speedy 
formation  of  so  many  small  cities  on  the  borders  of  civilization. 
Trade,  their  very  life,  is  concentrated  in  those  places,  and  these 
cities  by  reason  of  their  situation  on  rivers  navigable  for  steam- 
boats, offer  the  most  direct  and  speedy  communication  with  the 
rest  of  the  Republic.  The  city  of  Dubuque  owes  its  beginning 
not  alone  to  these  causes,  but  in  an  especial  manner  also  to 
the  lead  mines  which  abound  there,  and  which  give  it  almost  all 
its  material  importance. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

CAUSES  WHICH  CHIEFLY  CONTRIBUTED  TO 
THE  FORMATION  OF  NEW  DIOCESES  IN 
THE   UNITED    STATES. 

The  reasons  which  induced  the  Church  to  create  an  Epis- 
copal See  at  Dubuque,  are  the  same  regarding  many  other 
new  Dioceses  in  the  United  States,  therefore,  it  may  be  well 
to  mention  some  of  these,  the  better  to  make  known  the  state 
of  Catholicity  in  that  nation.  And  first  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  the  Bishoprics  in  this  great  Republic  often  extend 
over  an  area  of  more  than  hundreds  of  miles  in  length  and 
breadth,  and  for  this  reason  in  the  face  of  the  expensive  and 
most  difficult  journeys  it  becomes  almost  impossible  for  a 
Bishop  to  visit  his  diocese  as  often  as  the  spiritual  needs  of 
the  faithful  would  require,  especially  in  the  Western  States. 
The  communication  of  the  Missionary  Clergy  with  their  own 
Ecclesiastical  Superior,  so  greatly  to  be  desired  and  some- 
times so  indispensable,  is  too  often  prevented  by  the  great 
distance,  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  Priests  and  their  flocks 
as  well.  In  1836  out  of  twelve  Dioceses,  there  was  but  one, 
that  of  Cincinnati,  which  did  not  extend  outside  the  boundaries 
of  its  own  State.  Now,  however,  over  twenty-six  States  and 
three  Territories,  twenty-one  Bishops  rule,  fifteen  of  whose 
dioceses  are  limited  by  the  boundaries  of  the  states  wherein 
they  are  situated.  Hitherto,  it  has  not  been  the  number  of 
Catholics  or  of  inhabitants  in  a  province  that  caused  the 
creation  of  the  greater  number  of  these  dioceses ;  the  real 
cause  comprises  two :  the  very  great  difficulty  of  exercising 
jurisdiction  and  beneficent  Episcopal  influence  over  two  or 
three  States,  and  the  desire  to  propagate  the  Faith. 

That  motive,  however,  which  more  than  any  other  con- 

[204] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    205 

tributed  to  increase  the  number  of  dioceses  was  the  progress 
that  the  Faith  has  always  made  by  means  of  such  distribution 
of  the  labor  of  the  Apostolate.  In  truth,  since  the  Ecclesi- 
astical Hierarchy  is  a  Divine  Institution,  we  must  believe  that 
it  is  needed  for  the  spreading  of  the  Gospel ;  therefore  where 
by  reason  of  great  distance,  this  Hierarchy  becomes  like 
something  unreal,  almost  unfelt  by  members  far  from  its 
centre,  then,  indeed,  is  there  need  to  multiply  bishoprics,  for 
thus  are  evangelical  laborers  multiplied,  then  is  piety  reani- 
mated, then  is  raised  up  a  new  opponent  to  error,  and  the 
Faith,  living  and  luminous,  makes  new  conquests  with  yet 
greater  ardor,  with  swiftness,  with  unwearied  effort.  That 
such  were  the  salutary  effects  in  the  United  States  has  been 
openly  demonstrated  by  the  fact  that  in  several  States  piety 
was  almost  extinct ;  and  the  few  Catholics  scattered  here  and 
there  without  pastors  seldom  gave  witness  to  the  Faith  which 
they  professed,  while  the  sectarians,  availing  themselves  of 
such  a  situation  with  all  the  more  readiness,  disseminated 
error,  and  calumny  against  the  Church.  Moreover,  there  was 
not  one  to  teach  Christian  Doctrine  to  the  tender  youth,  with 
that  sincere  affection  inspired  by  Faith  and  assisted  by  hu- 
man learning.  In  certain  places  where  even  the  probability 
of  establishing  the  Faith  was  threatened  with  destruction,  a 
remedy  for  this  misfortune  was  sought  by  having  recourse  to 
the  Order  of  the  Episcopacy.  This,  spite  of  poverty  and  the 
obstacles  inseparable  from  a  new  foundation,  wrought  a  nota- 
ble change  as  to  the  diffusion  of  the  true  Faith.  Mission- 
aries appeared  in  an  instant,  so  to  speak ;  churches  arose  and 
overflowed  with  worshippers  ;  the  Sacraments  were  frequented, 
preaching,  schools  and  the  example  of  the  good,  gave  spur 
and  impulse  to  the  propagation  and  consolidation  of  the  Faith. 
Of  all  this,  the  dioceses  of  Dubuque,  of  Nashville,  and  vari- 
ous others  bear  witness.  Moved  by  these  happy  results,  the 
Fathers  of  the  Council  of  Baltimore,  celebrated  in  1845,  peti- 
tioned the  Holy  Father  to  create  five  new  bishoprics  and  one 
vicariate  apostolic,  and  there  is  not  the  slightest  doubt  that 
their  number  will  continue  to  increase  by  the  subdivision  of 


206    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

the  present  dioceses,  according  to  the  extent  of  their  terri- 
tory or  number  of  their  population;  and  the  original  design 
will  not  have  failed,  but  will  ever  more  inspire  and  increase 
the  number  of  the  devout. 

The  geographical  extent  of  the  country  and  the  spiritual 
good  resulting,  are  not  the  only  reasons  in  favor  of  founda- 
tions of  bishoprics  in  the  United  States ;  the  facility  with 
which  church  property  is  acquired  is  also  an  object  of  the 
greatest  importance  in  connection  with  the  temporal  welfare 
of  the  Church,  and  depends  in  great  measure  upon  the  Epis- 
copate. Now  the  reader  must  bear  in  mind  that  land  is 
always  secured  more  or  less  readily  in  proportion  to  the  num- 
ber of  inhabitants  in  a  country,  so  in  the  vicinity  of  newly 
settled  towns,  property  necessary  for  the  building  and  sup- 
porting all  kinds  of  Religious  institutions  can  readily  be  se- 
cured. On  the  other  hand,  the  endeavor  to  secure  land  in 
States  already  settled  and  in  large  cities,  finds  everything 
very  costly,  and  in  general  absorbs  not  only  all  means  at  hand 
but  may  even  put  the  clergy  under  most  hazardous  responsi- 
bilities. The  cause  of  Religion  has  much  to  suffer  by  reason 
of  its  restrictions  and  the  want  of  assistance  in  the  labor  of 
diffusing  the  light  of  Truth  among  the  people,  through  the 
medium  of  its  sacred  and  literary  institutions,  and  whenever 
the  undertaking  is  deferred  too  long,  the  increased  great  ex- 
pense and  anxieties  often  too  heavily  overburden  it. 

The  clergy,  scattered  here  and  there  in  States  that  are 
sparsely  settled,  with  no  certain  and  permanent  abiding-place, 
are  seldom  able  to  secure  either  in  growing  cities  or  in  the 
country  places,  those  funds  which  could  one  day  become  of 
the  greatest  utility  in  the  Propagation  of  the  Faith.  Small 
sums  judiciously  invested  in  the  acquisition  of  Church  prop- 
erty, though  of  little  or  no  use  for  a  few  years,  in  the  course 
of  time  might  become  necessary  and  valuable.  As  the  popula- 
tion spreads  and  increases  in  the  places  near  civilization,  in 
exactly  the  same  ratio  does  the  need  of  Churches,  schools, 
colleges  and  seminaries,  etc. ;  in  such  cases  delay  to  provide 
the  funds  needed  is  only  exposing  one's  self  to  the  inevitable 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    207 

result  of  paying  a  price  too  great  for  the  number  and  means 
of  the  Catholics  of  the  place.  Experience  of  many  years  has 
taught  the  Missionary  that  in  the  West,  this  is  the  invariable 
condition  of  all  the  new  cities  of  any  importance,  and  also  of 
various  rich  and  desirable  places  in  the  country. 

The  Bishops  in  the  United  States,  since  they  hold  nearly 
all  the  Church  property,  are  naturally  under  a  greater  obliga- 
tion to  secure  it  for  the  service  of  Religion ;  and  in  order 
to  avoid  heavy  expenses,  are  induced  to  provide  for  the 
future  by  acquiring  the  necessary  lands,  while  they  are 
being  offered  at  low  prices.  When  this  zeal  for  the  glory 
and  honor  of  God's  House  animates  that  soul  endowed  with 
experience  and  supreme  disinterestedness,  which  occupies  the 
Episcopal  chair,  then  imperceptibly  but  surely  in  the  course 
of  a  few  years,  does  the  Catholic  Church  come  into  posses- 
sion of  the  means  wherewith  to  win  yet  further  victories.  If 
a  Bishop  of  a  new  Diocese  was  able  to  do  nothing  more  than 
to  prepare  the  way  for  Religion  by  the  acquisition  of  Church 
property,  he  would  accomplish  a  great  work,  and  would  de- 
serve the  esteem  and  veneration  of  his  successors.  In  this  re- 
spect the  Diocese  of  Dubuque  is  happily  provided  for;  within 
a  few  years  she  has  secured  possession  of  valuable  land  in 
all  the  young  cities. 

But  even  aside  from  the  subject  of  securing  means  of 
support  for  Church  purposes,  the  formation  of  Bishoprics  in 
the  United  States  hinders  the  diffusion  of  error  and  of 
calumnies  against  the  Faith,  especially  in  places  where  the 
people  are  few  in  number  and  at  a  distance  from  the  Cath- 
olic Clergy.  The  ministers  of  various  denominations  not  sel- 
dom take  advantage  of  these  circumstances  to  publish  every- 
thing that  malice  has  invented,  in  order  to  keep  simple  souls 
in  the  false  principles  of  a  Protestant  education.  The  im- 
pulse that  Truth  receives  from  a  zealous  Prelate  enervates 
the  enemy  of  the  Church  and  as  it  were,  lops  off  the  yet  weak 
roots  of  so  many  prejudices,  which  strengthening  and  grow- 
ing with  the  nation's  growth,  threaten  to  produce  the  saddest 
results  upon  a  nation  in  its  infancy.     Humanly  speaking,  it 


208    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

might  be  asserted  that  in  the  new  Territories  or  Western 
States,  the  outcome  of  the  great  struggle  between  Truth  and 
Error  depends  in  great  measure  upon  which  of  the  two,  first 
holds  possession  and  influence ;  and  it  would  not  be  far  from 
the  truth  to  say  that  the  same  good  or  evil  consequences  that 
result  from  a  good  or  bad  training  in  the  case  of  a  child, 
follow  in  the  case  of  the  young  nation.  From  this  one  may 
infer  the  supreme  importance  of  laying  in  the  new  provinces, 
however  thinly  settled,  a  solid  foundation  for  Religion,  that 
is  the  Episcopate. 

As,  however,  the  majority  of  the  people's  votes  in  the 
Republic  elect  the  legislators  of  each  State,  and  those  of 
the  general  Government,  it  follows  that  the  political  in- 
fluence of  the  Catholics  is  not  to  be  despised  in  the  defense 
of  their  Religious  rights,  when  these  are  in  any  way  violated 
through  the  hatred  of  their  adversaries.  In  any  part  of  the 
country,  but  more  especially  in  the  West,  an  Episcopal  See 
never  fails  to  exercise  a  beneficent  influence  upon  popular 
opinion  in  all  that  regards  the  rights  of  conscience  and  the 
obligation  of  submitting  to  the  civil  law,  so  long  as  it  does 
not  oppose  the  Law  of  God.  In  a  Government  truly  Repub- 
lican, the  Catholic  Clergy  well  organized  within  the  limits  of 
its  own  spiritual  authority  and  in  obedience  to  its  Bishop,  com- 
mands the  respect,  the  reverence  and  the  deference  of  the  laws 
themselves,  because  these  are  made  by  the  legislators  chosen  by 
the  people.  Gaining  the  good-will  and  esteem  of  the  people 
is  equivalent  generally  speaking  to  gaining  that  of  the  legis- 
lators and  the  laws ;  a  good  clergy  scattered  over  vast  regions, 
and  united  in  accord  with  their  Bishop,  constitutes  a  body 
sufficiently  efficacious  in  the  face  of  the  governing  authori- 
ties of  the  State  which  contains  the  diocese.  How  far 
the  esteem  and  good-will  of  the  Chief  Magistrate  could 
assist  in  the  propagation  of  the  Faith,  is  a  subject  not  easy 
to  advert  to  in  this  article,  nor  would  it  always  be  prudent 
to  treat  of  it  deliberately;  it  suffices  here  to  know  that  the 
good  opinion  of  those  outside  the  Church  in  all  civil  associa- 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    209 

tions  offers  a  broad  path  to  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  in 
public  as  well  as  in  private. 

From  this  brief  digression  it  is  evident  that  the  extent  of 
the  country,  the  progress  of  Religion,  the  acquisition  of 
Church  property,  the  opportune  antidote  to  error,  the  ad- 
vantage of  useful  political  influence  can  be  considered  as  very 
grave  reasons  for  the  creation  of  new  Bishoprics  in  the  great 
Republic  of  America. 

But  you  will  say,  how  provide  for  the  dignity  of  surround- 
ings due  to  a  prelate, — for  the  expenses  of  a  cathedral,  for 
a  suitable  residence  for  a  bishop,  for  a  seminary?  In  a  coun- 
try where  the  majority  of  the  people  are  living  in  the  blind- 
ness of  many  false  systems  of  Religion,  the  Church  may  be 
considered  in  the  same  position  as  in  the  time  of  the  Apostles, 
when  the  first  Bishops  were  as  zealous  and  active  parish 
Priests;  in  such  case  what  suffices  for  the  Priest  suffices  for 
the  Bishop.  This  is  the  actual  condition  of  almost  all  the 
American  Bishoprics.  And  happy  are  they  who  for  the  propa- 
gation of  the  Gospel,  are  by  the  force  of  circumstances,  de- 
prived of  the  exterior  tokens  of  honor  and  respect  due  to 
their  dignity,  while  they  are  themselves  bearing  all  the  toils 
of  their  position.  If  during  the  persecutions  in  the  first  cen- 
turies there  were  Bishops  without  cathedrals,  habitations  or 
seminaries,  why  not  the  same  in  our  day,  wherever  these  can- 
not be  had?  Piety,  zeal,  disinterestedness  and  perseverance 
in  the  Prelate  have  ever  built  the  cathedrals,  the  seminaries, 
and  everything  that  conduces  to  the  salvation  of  souls.  To 
him  in  particular  was  this  word  of  our  Redeemer  addressed : 
"I  have  chosen  you  and  have  appointed  you,  that  you  should 
go,  and  should  bring  forth  fruit;  and  your  fruit  should  re- 
main."    (St.  John  XV,  16.) 


CHAPTER  XIV 

HINTS  ON  A  FEW  HARDSHIPS  ON  THE  MISSIONS. 

The  summer  and  the  autumn  of  1838  were  spent  by  the 
Priest  in  visiting,  preaching  and  administering  the  Sacra- 
ments throughout  the  various  newly  formed  parishes  in  the 
territories  of  Iowa  and  Wisconsin  and  the  State  of  Illinois. 
The  Catholics  found  themselves  surrounded  by  many  Prot- 
estant ministers  who  while  organizing  their  own  congrega- 
tions, never  forgot  to  accuse  the  Church  of  error  and  super- 
stition ;  a  Calvinistic  minister,  a  Methodist  and  an  Anglican 
were  all  settled  in  Galena  and  preaching  to  their  own  sects 
there;  a  Methodist,  a  Calvinistic  and  a  Baptist  were  doing 
the  same  in  Dubuque;  and  in  the  neighborhood  of  both  these 
principal  places  there  was  a  yet  greater  number  of  preachers 
of  different  sects.  The  Missionary,  alone  as  he  was,  found 
himself  unable  to  satisfy  the  desires  of  all  his  congregations, 
who  would  have  wished  to  receive  the  same  attention  from 
their  Priest  that  the  ministers  bestowed  upon  their  own  fol- 
lowers. For  this  reason  until  April,  1839,  he  was  obliged 
to  divide  his  time  among  his  many  missions, — passing  from 
one  point  to  another  as  circumstances  permitted. 

The  mode  of  traveling  is  on  horseback,  carrying  in  a 
valise  the  articles  indispensable  to  the  celebration  of  the  Holy 
Sacrifice,  which  formed  a  quite  heavy  burden.  At  that  time, 
the  Mission  extended  more  than  two  hundred  miles  along  the 
Mississippi  River  and  from  thirty  to  fifty  miles  to  the  east, 
as  many  to  the  west  of  the  River, — and  counted  not  less  than 
three  thousand  five  hundred  Catholics,  of  whom  the  greater 
number  were  of  Irish  descent,  with  many  French  and  a  num- 
ber of  German  and  American  nationality;  the  roads  although 
only  bridle  or  wagon  paths  made  by  the  passing  to  and  fro  of 

[210] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    211 

the  settlers  were  passable  enough  in  summer  for  a  traveller  on 
horseback,  but  exceedingly  bad  in  the  spring  when  the  frozen 
earth  thawed  and  the  little  streams  now  swollen  by  rains  or 
heavy  snowfalls  melting,  often  completely  hindered  travelling. 
Among  the  Indians  one  had  to  be  satisfied  with  a  lodging 
in  a  wigwam  of  mats  and  sleeping  as  best  one  could  wrapped 
in  a  blanket  without  a  bed,  but  in  the  section  above  mentioned 
near  the  Mississippi,  some  habitation  could  always  be  found 
wherein  to  pass  the  night.  But  a  house  here  consists  of  one 
or  perhaps  two  rooms  roughly  built  of  logs  laid  one  upon 
another,  the  whole  covered  with  bark  or  shingles;  these  habi- 
tations of  the  first  settlers  might  rather  be  called  huts,  often 
without  window  or  floor,  yet  they  often  served  the  Missionary 
as  shelter  and  even  as  Church.  The  houses  in  this  part  of 
the  country  are  much  larger  and  more  commodious;  the  in- 
creased number  of  settlers  coming  from  many  quarters  of  the 
world  have  so  changed  and  improved  conditions  that  it  no 
longer  seems  the  rude  country  of  seven  or  eight  years  ago. 
Custom  and  hospitality,  or  rather  necessity  makes  one  for- 
get the  restrictions  and  the  extreme  poverty  of  those  dwell- 
ings in  which  they  cooked  their  food,  slept,  ate  their  meals 
from  the  same  table  which  had  served  as  an  Altar,  where 
also  the  Priest  had  preached,  had  heard  Confessions  and  had 
administered  the  other  Sacraments.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
the  Christian  Religion  was  propagated  primarily  in  the  midst 
of  poverty,  and  was  born  as  it  were  in  the  cabins  of  the  poor, 
for  rarely  were  the  rich  among  the  first  who  submitted  to 
the  doctrine  of  a  God-made  man  for  us,  born  in  a  lowly 
manger. 

Our  Saviour  said  to  His  Apostles:  "Be  not  solicitous, 
therefore,  saying :  What  shall  we  eat ;  or  what  shall  we  drink, 
or  wherewith  shall  we  be  clothed?"  (Matt.  VI,  31).  In 
fact,  even  in  the  most  remote  places  the  Missionary  found 
the  necessaries  of  life  without  trouble.  Sometimes  Almighty 
God  puts  to  the  proof  the  confidence  of  him  who  trusts  His 
Providence, — permitting  him  no  other  food  than  that  of  the 
poorest  sufferer,  even  the  crust  too  scanty  to  allay  his  hunger. 


212    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

But  how  sweet  is  that  very  Hand  of  the  Lord's  Justice  when 
it  chastises  us  for  our  faults!  The  assurance  that  every- 
thing happens  because  God  Himself  wills  it  for  the  sake  of 
spreading  His  Faith,  gives  to  the  poorest  food  the  most 
delicious  taste,  and  its  scantiness  becomes  the  price  of  the 
penalty  due  to  sin  and  the  pledge  of  the  magnificence  of  that 
celestial  Banquet  that  awaits  us  made  ready  in  Paradise. 

At  times  during  the  many  years  of  mission  life,  the  par- 
ticular circumstances  of  a  family,  or  the  lack  of  money  on 
the  part  of  the  Priest,  constrained  him  to  sit  at  table  with 
persons  not  alone  poor,  but  the  coarsest,  roughest,  worst  of 
men,  and  what  was  especially  repugnant  to  pride  of  heart, 
to  eat  their  food  as  an  alms  given  him  in  charity.  One  who  is 
not  of  ignoble  birth,  and  who  knows  that  his  training 
and  ecclesiastical  career  deserve  consideration,  is  strongly 
tempted  on  such  occasions  to  consider  it  too  great  a  humilia- 
tion. And  then  Faith  recalls  to  mind  Jesus  in  the  company 
and  at  the  table  of  sinners ;  the  Vow  of  Poverty  which  the 
Religious  has  professed,  extinguishes  in  the  depths  of  his 
heart  the  secret  rebellion  of  pride,  and  he  is  forced  to  reflect 
that  eating  the  bread  of  charity  is  a  fitting  thing  for  him 
who  professes  to  be  poor  like  his  Divine  Master.  The 
poverty  of  the  table  should  never  be  held  as  reason  for  chang- 
ing one  abode  in  search  for  a  better ;  for  this  would  be  setting 
at  nought  the  counsel  of  Christ  to  His  Apostles :  "And  in  the 
same  house  remain,  eating  and  drinking  such  things  as  they 
have.  Remove  not  from  house  to  house.  Eat  such  things 
as  are  set  before  you."     (Luke  X,  7,  8). 

Generally  speaking,  on  the  Missions,  there  is  much  kind- 
ness shown  not  only  by  Catholics  but  by  Protestants  as  well, 
who  supply  with  abundance  the  corporal  needs  of  a  zealous 
and  disinterested  Priest.  Whenever  he  has  to  suffer  any 
inconveniences  on  this  score,  he  should  thank  the  Divine 
Bounty  that  renders  him  worthy  to  participate  in  the  trials 
inseparable  from  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel.  Hunger, 
thirst,  cold,  heat,  all  the  weariness  and  perils  of  travel,  pov- 
erty, contempt,  obloquy,  and  many  humiliations  are  in  very 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    213 

deed  the  glory  and  true  merit  of  a  Missionary,  for  Saint  Paul 
says :  "We  glory  also  in  tribulations  knowing  that  tribulation 
worketh  patience."     (Rom.  V,  3). 

"In  all  things,  let  us  exhibit  ourselves  as  the  ministers  of 
God,  in  much  patience,  in  tribulation,  in  necessities,  in  dis- 
tresses ...  by  evil  report  and  good  report;  as  deceivers, 
and  yet  true."     (II  Cor.  VI,  4,  8). 


CHAPTER  XV 

MISSIONS    IN    WISCONSIN    IN   FEBRUARY,    1838— 
THE  PRIEST  LODGING  IN  THE  CHURCH. 

In  spite  of  illness  lasting  about  three  weeks  of  January, 
1838,  in  the  next  February,  the  Priest  visited  for  nearly  a 
month  the  many  Catholics  dispersed  throughout  the  Terri- 
tory of  Wisconsin,  their  spiritual  needs  calling  for  assistance. 
Gratiot  Grove,  New  Diggings,  Mineral  Point,  Dodgeville  and 
Diamond  Grove  were  the  principal  Stations,  where  in  the 
houses  of  certain  persons,  Mass  was  celebrated.  Preaching 
was  carried  on  and  many  of  the  faithful  received  the  Sacra- 
ment of  the  Eucharist.  The  Protestants  of  the  neighborhood, 
through  curiosity  or  through  a  sincere  desire  to  understand 
the  Catholic  Religion,  were  accustomed  to  assist  at  Divine 
Service.  It  would  have  been  of  immense  assistance  to  the 
cause  of  Religion  if  in  that  year  he  could  have  been  able  to 
set  about  building  some  kind  of  a  Church,  to  put  an  end  to 
the  vast  inconveniences  of  celebrating  the  Holy  Sacrifice  and 
administering  the  Sacraments  in  the  little  houses  of  the  people. 
But  where  were  the  means  to  be  found  for  such  an  under- 
taking? Or  how  divide  his  time  among  places  so  far  away 
from  his  own  congregations?  For  besides,  there  was  but  one 
lone  Priest,  and  Churches  so  far  distant  from  one  another 
could  not  have  been  often  in  use.  Yet  although  then  it  ap- 
peared an  impossibility,  he  never  gave  up  the  hope  of  carry- 
ing out  such  a  plan. 

In  preceding  chapters  mention  has  been  made  that  in  the 
spring  and  autumn,  the  Missionary  had  been  obliged  to  go 
down  the  River  about  five  hundred  miles  to  Saint  Louis,  in 
order  to  make  his  Confession;  he  made  this  penitential  journey 
for  the  last  time  in  the  April  of  1838,  as  in  the  next  autumn 
he  had  a  visit  from  a  Priest,  and  a  year  afterward  came  Mon- 

f  214  1 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELT A,  O.  P.    215 

signore  Loras,  with  two  Missionaries.  The  new  City  of 
Davenport  in  the  Territory  of  Iowa,  had  not  been  forgotten 
by  the  Missionary  on  the  occasion  of  his  return  from  this 
journey,  and  he  preached  there  many  times  to  a  hundred  or 
so  of  Catholics  in  the  new  Church  not  yet  entirely  finished. 

To  give  some  idea  of  how  the  Priest  on  the  Missions 
must  be  content  with  little,  wherever  by  reason  of  poverty, 
he  has  no  house  of  his  own,  we  will  here  say  a  word  about  his 
lodging.  While  traveling,  as  has  been  said,  he  may  sometimes 
find  a  decent  place  and  a  bed ;  and  sometimes  God  wills  that  he 
be  contented  with  a  hut  and  the  bare  ground.  But  whenever 
he  finds  himself  in  a  village  without  a  Church,  or  is  occupied  in 
building  one,  he  makes  his  abode  in  a  Catholic  family,  to  whom 
if  it  is  exacted,  a  certain  amount  is  paid.  But  lodging  with 
seculars  should  always  be  avoided,  if  in  any  way  possible,  on 
account  of  the  little  annoyances  to  which  it  subjects  the  Mis- 
sionary as  well  as  the  people,  who  may  desire  to  have  free 
access  to  him  without  the  necessity  of  troubling  or  putting 
themselves  under  obligations  to  a  third  party.  During  the 
autumn  of  1836,  when  the  Church  at  Dubuque  was  under 
cover,  the  Priest  immediately  took  possession  of  a  little  room 
under  the  Sanctuary  and  this  served  as  a  chapel  in  winter, 
although  it  had  the  bare  earth  for  a  floor  and  the  walls  were 
unplastered,  which  gave  it  the  appearance  of  a  cellar  rather 
than  a  habitable  place,  but  it  served  as  a  dwelling  for  more  than 
two  years.  At  Galena  for  the  same  space  of  time  before  the 
Church  was  finished,  the  Missionary  abode  in  the  little  wooden 
Chapel,  where  on  one  side  of  the  Altar  he  had  his  little  cot 
hidden  away  in  a  tiny  closet  whose  dimensions  were  six  feet  by 
five,  while  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Altar  was  a  Confessional ; 
the  body  of  the  little  chapel  was  used  as  a  study  and  reception 
room.  One  who  has  not  had  the  opportunity  of  living  in 
the  Church  and  sleeping  near  the  Altar  cannot  readily  imagine 
all  its  advantages,  the  grandest  of  which  is  the  honor  and 
privilege  of  abiding  in  common,  in  the  same  room  with  that 
Lord  and  Redeemer  Whose  delight  is  to  be  with  the  children 
of  men.  His  Presence  alone  infinitely  surpasses  the  grandeur 
and  glories  of  the  palaces  of  kings  of  earth. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE  PRIEST  IN  PERIL  OF  HIS  LIFE  ON  THE  MIS- 
SISSIPPI RIVER,  IN  MARCH,  1838. 

During  the  course  of  many  years,  various  were  the  perils 
to  which  the  Missionary's  life  was  exposed,  but  that  which 
happened  to  him  in  the  month  of  March,  1838,  was  worthy 
of  special  mention.  By  his  office  as  a  Priest,  he  was  obliged  to 
cross  the  great  River  Mississippi  from  the  State  of  Illinois 
to  Iowa  Territory  where  a  sick  man  awaited  his  ministrations. 
He  found  that  the  ice  no  longer  formed  a  solid  support  but 
broken  up  by  the  change  of  temperature  and  by  the  wind  was 
carried  along  with  the  current.  Often  during  the  spring  this 
river  is  found  in  such  a  condition  on  account  of  its  great  length 
and  many  tributaries,  so  that  many  persons  cross  in  little  skiffs 
in  spite  of  the  drifting  ice.  The  Priest  with  four  other  travel- 
lers found  no  other  means  of  transport  than  a  sort  of  narrow 
canoe,  hollowed  out  of  a  single  trunk  of  a  tree,  which  had  been 
left  lying  on  the  bank  all  the  last  winter;  when  launched  they 
all  embarked  without  discovering  that  the  old  boat  had  several 
open  cracks  along  the  sides.  After  pushing  out  almost  half  a 
mile  across  the  River,  the  water  began  to  pour  in,  and  such 
was  the  fear  of  one  of  the  sailors  that  he  was  pale  and  trem- 
bling. The  steersman,  however,  experienced  as  he  was,  coura- 
geously managed  the  frail  vessel,  ordering  those  who  were 
seated  to  keep  perfectly  motionless,  "or  else,"  he  said,  "we  are 
all  lost."  The  Priest  alone  remained  kneeling  and  paddling 
with  a  single  oar  while  the  steersman  gave  orders  to  hasten  his 
strokes. 

But  how  comforting  is  the  true  Faith  when  in  imminent 
peril  of  life !  The  Priest  of  the  Altar  on  that  occasion  bear- 
ing with  him  Jesus  in  the  Blessed  Sacrament,  had  no  great 

[216] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELL1,  O.  P.    217 

cause  for  fear,  and  as  he  found  himself  in  the  same  peril  as 
that  which  tried  the  Faith  of  the  Apostles,  when  the  tempest 
surprised  them  on  Lake  Genesareth,  he  cried  out  from  the 
depths  of  his  heart  in  their  own  words :  "Master,  we  perish !" 
(St.  Luke,  VIII,  24.)  A  fixed  sense  of  security  in  the  Pres- 
ence of  the  Veiled  Divinity  lying  hidden  upon  his  breast,  gave 
no  room  for  fear  or  doubt  of  reaching  the  shore.  Neverthe- 
less, the  drifting  ice  fully  a  foot  and  a  half  in  thickness,  and  in 
masses  of  enormous  size,  increased  the  peril  not  a  little,  for  if 
one  of  these  had  struck  the  old  log,  it  would  assuredly  have 
sent  it  to  the  bottom;  we  were  compelled  to  turn  from  the 
course  often  to  avoid  this.  The  four  passengers  were  already 
sitting  in  the  icy  water:  the  Priest  and  the  steersman  were 
kneeling  in  the  water,  for  the  rim  of  the  old  canoe  was 
only  four  fingers  length  out  of  water,  when  thanks  to  God, 
we  reached  an  island,  and  landing,  every  countenance  showed 
thankfulness  and  joy.  Then  the  steersman  declared  that  as 
often  as  he  had  crossed  that  river  in  the  most  dangerous 
weather,  he  had  never  been  so  near  death ;  adding  that  they 
had  come  across  safe  because  they  had  had  Faith  rowing  the 
boat  and  Perseverance  at  the  stern  guiding  it;  that  is,  the  Mis- 
sionary and  himself.  The  passengers,  not  being  Catholics, 
knew  not  that  they  owed  their  lives  to  the  Presence  of  that 
Omnipotent  God  who  crossed  with  them  under  the  humble 
guise  of  the  Sacrament  of  the  Eucharist. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

THE  BUILDING  OF  THE  CHURCH  AT  GALENA  IS 
RESUMED— SALUTARY  EFFECTS  OF  DISIN- 
TERESTEDNESS IN  A  PRIEST  WHO  IS  ON 
THE  MISSIONS. 

The  most  important  duties  of  the  Missionary  during  the 
summer  of  1838  were  raising  the  walls  of  Saint  Michael's 
Church  in  Galena,  and  caring  for  a  very  great  number  of  sick 
persons.  For  want  of  means  and  also  of  necessary  time, 
this  Church  had  been  neglected  during  the  last  year,  with  the 
hope  that  the  Bishop-Elect  of  Dubuque  would  have  celebrated 
his  installation  during  that  time;  but  he  had  been  detained 
in  Europe,  and  the  Priest  thought  it  necessary  to  set  about 
the  work  notwithstanding  his  isolated  position  and  the  fact 
of  having  no  companion  in  the  ministry.  Let  the  reader  im- 
agine a  work  costing  at  the  least  one  hundred  dollars  a  week, 
paid  for  with  voluntary  contributions  collected  by  the  Priest 
during  the  course  of  that  same  week.  He  was  obliged  to  be 
architect,  superintendent,  financier  and  what  was  worse  than 
all,  collector;  God  alone  knows  the  anxieties,  the  bitterness, 
the  toils  necessitated  by  such  an  undertaking,  one  which  would 
have  been  a  deed  of  consummate  imprudence  not  to  say  a  sin, 
under  any  other  circumstances.  The  pressing  need  of  a  place 
of  worship  for  a  great  number  of  the  faithful  prevented 
from  assisting  at  Mass  on  account  of  the  narrow  limits  of  the 
little  frame  building  used  as  chapel,  was  the  sole  reason  that 
could  by  any  possibility  excuse  the  culpable  temerity  which 
dominated  and  held  itself  responsible  for  the  whole  expense. 
Many  times  during  the  course  of  the  same,  the  work  was  in- 
terrupted for  want  of  means  to  pay  the  day  laborers ;  finally, 
and  not  without  a  heavy  debt,  the  walls  were  raised  and  the 

[218I 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    219 

building  under  roof  before  winter,  but  not  till  the  next  year 
was  the  building  in  a  state  to  be  of  service  to  the  people. 

The  amount  expended  up  to  this  time  exceeded  seven  thou- 
sand dollars,  none  of  which  was  contributed  outside  of  the 
parish.  From  this  fact  some  one  might  conclude  that  the 
parish  must  be  rich  to  furnish  such  a  sum;  but  it  was  not  the 
wealth  of  the  parishioners,  it  was  the  expenditure  of  time, 
joined  to  economy,  to  tireless  perseverance,  to  disinterested- 
ness, and  above  all,  to  good  will,  which  brought  about  so  happy 
a  result.  About  one  thousand  dollars  were  contributed  by  the 
people  in  labor  and  in  materials ;  the  rest  was  the  result  of 
the  remarkable  generosity  of  the  Irish  people  especially,  for  the 
space  of  three  years.  Few  of  these  were  in  easy  circumstances, 
but  nearly  all  earned  enough  for  the  bare  necessities  of  life, 
by  indefatigable  labor  in  the  lead  mines  which  abounded  in 
the  district.  Even  the  Protestants,  animated  by  praiseworthy 
religious  sentiments,  or  perhaps  by  human  motives,  contributed 
to  the  building  of  the  Catholic  Church. 

It  may  be  well  to  remark  that  the  generosity  of  the  faithful 
in  these  parts  depends  in  great  measure  upon  the  disinterested- 
ness of  the  Priest.  If  he  manifests  any  desire  for  money, 
then  all  is  lost  for  the  Church,  for  he  is  the  sole  agent,  secretary 
and  treasurer.  If  he  does  not  divest  himself  completely  of  self, 
and  consecrate  himself  without  one  reservation  to  the  propaga- 
tion of  the  Truth,  that  indispensable  boundless  confidence  of 
his  people  loses  itself  in  doubts  and  suspicions  and  at  last 
vanishes  utterly.  The  building  of  Churches  in  the  western 
parts  of  the  United  States  is  not  the  work  of  the  Government, 
of  a  powerful  family,  of  a  bequest,  or  of  a  corporation,  as  is 
the  case  in  Europe  or  some  of  the  large  cities  of  America  but 
solely  of  the  Missionary  who  with  industry  and  zeal  hopes  to 
receive  from  the  people  alms  sufficient  to  pay  for  its  erection. 
From  this  it  is  plain  that  that  reproach  of  Saint  Paul :  "For  all 
seek  the  things  that  are  their  own,  not  the  things  of  Jesus 
Christ"  (Phil.  II,  21),  would  be  incurred  by  him  who  would 
resolve  not  to  build  unless  circumstances  were  extraordinary 
and  favorable,  for  that  would  deprive  him  of  all  merit.     His 


220    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

vocation  should  lead  him  far  from  seeking  the  comforts  of 
this  life,  much  less  the  goods  of  earth,  which  would  render 
him  unworthy  of  the  sublimity  of  his  Ministry. 

The  great  secret,  therefore,  for  finding  money  where  it 
does  not  seem  to  exist,  and  to  give  it,  so  to  speak,  a  marvellous 
existence,  lies  in  the  sincere  disinterestedness  of  the  Priest. 
In  our  case  this  virtue  exacts  that  he  be  miserly  towards  him- 
self, that  is,  in  the  matter  of  raiment  and  dwelling-place,  that 
his  requirements  be  reduced  to  what  is  barely  necessary  to  his 
state,  and  no  more;  if  he  can  receive  support  under  the  name 
of  charity,  it  is  of  the  highest  importance  to  humble  himself  to 
the  spontaneous  courtesy  of  him  who  offers  it.  On  journeys, 
economy  has  ever  happy  results ;  moreover,  it  is  certainly  be- 
coming that  a  Missionary  should  scruple  to  expend  the  smallest 
sum  on  things  that  have  nought  to  do  with  his  calling;  for 
instance,  in  little  trips  for  amusement,  in  curiosities,  in  objects 
of  luxury  and  the  like. 

Example  contributes  more  than  anything  else  here  men- 
tioned to  excite  the  generosity  of  the  faithful  towards  the 
Temple  of  God.  It  would  be  of  the  very  greatest  advantage  to 
one  occupied  in  spreading  the  Faith,  if  he  were  bound  by  the 
Vow  of  Poverty,  for  a  life  immersed  in  business  matters 
insensibly  leads  one  to  the  possession  of  some  personal  means 
and  this  is  almost  always  an  occasion  of  coldness  in  the  sacred 
ministry  and  serves  as  a  false  excuse  on  the  part  of  Catholics 
for  not  ministering  to  the  needs  of  the  Altar.  Our  Saviour 
has  told  us  to  give  of  our  abundance  to  the  poor;  the  Mis- 
sionary more  than  any  other  man  in  the  world  should  despoil 
himself  of  all  things,  even  of  himself,  and  make  it  a  grateful 
sacrifice  to  his  vocation.  Now  in  the  United  States  the  church 
is  generally  the  poorest  of  the  poor,  for  either  one  must  be 
built,  or  it  is  in  debt,  or  else  it  requires  repairs  or  necessary 
furnishings  for  the  altar;  so  if  the  Priest  desires  to  see  the 
people  liberal  and  full  of  confidence  in  his  personality,  he  must 
himself  lead  the  way,  keeping  nothing  for  himself  and  put- 
ting everything  that  he  possesses  in  the  treasury  of  the  Church. 
The  same  Providence  that  cared  for  him  in  the  past  will  not 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    221 

fail  him  in  the  future;  forever  true  are  those  words  of  our 
Divine  Master:  "When  I  sent  you  without  purse  and  scrip 
and  shoes,  did  you  want  anything?"    (St  Luke,  XXII,  35.) 

Certain  it  is  that  this  generous  detachment  and  this  volun- 
tary privation  are  of  the  same  importance  in  every  place,  nor 
can  they  be  said  to  exist  always  even  among  Missionaries ; 
but  it  cannot  be  denied  that  it  is  the  true  virtue  and  true  riches 
of  many  among  them.  The  wondrous  effects  of  this  spoliation 
of  self  in  order  to  adorn  the  Church  are  principally  an  un- 
bounded confidence,  love,  veneration,  generosity,  and  obe- 
dience on  the  part  of  the  people  even  the  Protestants;  on  the 
part  of  the  Priest,  zeal,  evangelical  liberty,  activity,  personal 
usefulness  towards  society.  Religion,  therefore,  through  dis- 
interestedness shines  forth  more  beautiful,  more  beneficent, 
more  holy.    Experience  has  given  certain  proof  of  these  truths. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

SERVING  THE  SICK,  IN  1838. 

In  the  year  1838,  the  State  of  Illinois  employed  many 
hundreds  of  laborers  in  the  construction  of  a  railroad  from 
Galena  to  the  junction  of  the  Ohio  River  with  the  Mississippi, 
that  is,  crossing  the  entire  State  from  its  northern  to  its 
southern  boundary  line,  measuring  more  than  four  hundred 
miles  in  length.  This  great  work  was  barely  commenced, 
discontinued  for  want  of  funds,  and  left  the  State  in  debt 
for  millions  of  dollars,  and  with  no  railroad.  The  majority 
of  the  laborers  in  and  near  Galena  were  Irish  and  German 
Catholics,  as  these  generally  perform  the  most  laborious  works 
of  the  nation.  Unfortunately  this  year  an  intermittent  fever 
broke  out  by  which  many  were  stricken  even  unto  death.  It 
was  maintained  that  the  principal  cause  of  this  disease  was 
the  high  water  in  the  Mississippi,  which  during  the  summer 
flooded  the  numerous  islands  and  a  considerable  extent  of 
the  low  lands  lying  along  the  banks ;  when  the  waters  subsided 
in  the  month  of  August,  the  vegetation  had  decayed  and  was 
causing  a  most  offensive  odor  throughout  the  atmosphere. 
Whatever  was  the  cause,  there  were  persons  down  with  the 
fever  in  almost  every  house,  and  within  two  or  three  months 
no  fewer  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  people  died. 

The  Missionary  was  called  every  hour  of  the  day  and 
night  to  visit  the  sick,  often  to  a  distance  of  ten,  twenty  or 
thirty  miles  from  his  dwelling.  Remarkable  were  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  death  of  one  man,  a  Catholic,  who  was 
unfortunately  addicted  to  drunkenness,  and  who  died  without 
receiving  the  last  Sacraments.  This  man  had  heard  a  few 
weeks  before  a  sermon  upon  the  necessity  of  being  con- 
verted to  God  and  doing  penance ;  impressed  by  the  announce- 

[222  ] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    223 

ment  of  the  terrible  judgment  of  God  upon  the  impenitent, 
he  promised  the  Priest  that  he  would  go  to  Confession  the 
first  time  he  went  to  the  city.  Instead  of  being  faithful  to 
his  promise,  on  coming  to  the  city  he  became  intoxicated  and 
gave  public  scandal;  on  his  return  to  the  place  where  he  had 
been  working,  about  fifteen  miles  distant,  he  fell  sick,  sent 
for  the  Priest,  but  although  the  latter  rode  at  his  utmost  speed 
on  a  fleet  horse,  it  was  too  late;  he  found  the  poor  man  dead. 
Behold  how  the  words  of  the  Gospel  upon  obstinate  back- 
sliders are  verified  to  the  letter ;  of  these  did  our  Lord 
prophesy  when  He  said :  "I  go,  and  you  shall  seek  Me,  and 
you  shall  die  in  your  sin."     (John  VIII,  21.) 

During  this  dangerous  epidemic,  in  his  visits  to  the  sick, 
the  Priest  was  obliged  to  be  fortified  at  all  times  with  the 
Blessed  Sacrament  for  the  dying,  to  whom  he  was  often  sum- 
moned while  passing  by  the  public  works.  The  houses  tem- 
porarily erected  for  reception  of  the  poor  laborers,  consisted 
of  one  room  of  planks  in  which  slept  thirty  or  forty  of  them, 
so  destitute  of  help  that  there  is  no  doubt  that  many  died  of 
want.  Great  was  the  consolation  to  find  in  many  of  the  poor 
dying  upon  the  straw,  abandoned  by  the  whole  world,  and  in 
direst  misery,  to  find,  I  repeat,  a  singular  piety,  fruit  of  a 
Christian  life.  Who  could  express  the  spiritual  unction  that 
consoled  those  souls  when  unexpectedly  they  saw  a  Priest 
beside  them  to  whom  they  .might  make  their  last  Confession, 
from  whom  receive  the  Most  Holy  Viaticum  and  Extreme 
Unction?  Truly  doth  God  know  His  own,  nor  doth  He  for- 
get them  in  the  perilous  moment  of  their  passage  to  Eternity; 
when  all  else  fails,  He  never  fails  one  who  hopes  in  His  In- 
finite Goodness  and  Mercy.  On  one  of  these  occasions  the 
Missionary  divided  among  four  dying  persons  the  last  Conse- 
crated Particle  left  to  him. 

In  these  countries,  the  Viaticum  is  carried  in  a  small  case 
of  silver-gilt  which  is  hung  around  the  Priest's  neck  and 
hidden  beneath  the  exterior  garment;  in  this  manner  has  the 
Missionary  often  borne  with  him  for  many  days  and  many 
nights  the  most  Adorable  Mystery  of  our  Faith.     Such  a  de- 


224    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

vice  becomes  necessary  here  in  order  not  to  expose  the  Holy 
of  Holies  to  the  contempt  of  so  many  unbelievers, — the  same 
motive  which  led  the  primitive  Christians  not  to  reveal  in 
public  to  the  Pagans  the  doctrine  and  knowledge  of  the  Holy 
Eucharist  of  which  they  preserved  a  profound  secrecy. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

THE  TERRITORY  OF  IOWA  WAS  ORGANIZED  IN 
1838— ITS  PEOPLE,  PRODUCTS,  CLIMATE 
AND  CITIES. 

In  Chapter  VIII  it  was  seen  that  through  an  Act  of  Con- 
gress of  the  United  States,  the  Territory  of  Wisconsin  was 
separated  from  that  of  Michigan  and  organized  in  1836:  two 
years  later,  by  the  same  Congress,  that  part  of  Wisconsin  to 
the  west  of  the  Mississippi,  was  made  a  Territory  by  itself 
in  the  same  way,  and  named  Iowa  from  the  name  of  the 
beautiful  river  on  which  its  capital  city  is  now  built.  These 
lands  extend  from  latitude  40^2°  E  to  490,  and  comprise 
about  six  degrees  of  longitude;  on  the  east  the  waters  of  the 
great  Mississippi  bathe  the  boundary  of  the  new  Territory 
for  more  than  a  thousand  miles;  the  Missouri  River  washes 
the  western  boundary;  the  Province  of  Canada  on  the  north, 
and  the  State  of  Missouri  on  the  south  border  this  great 
Territory  of  Iowa. 

When  it  was  erected  into  a  Territorial  Government  in 
1838,  it  contained  only  eighteen  thousand  inhabitants;  it  had 
about  six  million  acres  of  land  along  the  Mississippi,  the 
right  over  which  the  Indians  by  various  treaties  had  ceded 
to  the  Republic.  So  great  was  the  emigration  to  that  Terri- 
tory, that  according  to  the  census  taken  by  Government  in 
July,  1840,  Iowa  contained  forty-three  thousand  inhabitants, 
having  received  twenty-five  thousand  from  1838  to  the  middle 
of  1840,  while  almost  as  many  more  entered  the  Territory 
before  1843,  s0  that,  at  present,  the  population  is  about 
seventy  thousand.  In  1843  Dv  a  treaty  with  the  savages,  the 
United  States  purchased  eleven  million  acres  in  Iowa,  which, 
together  with  the  six  million  already  in  possession,   would 

[225] 


226    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

make  twenty-six  thousand,  five  hundred  and  sixty-two  square 
miles,  counting  six  hundred  and  forty  acres  to  the  square 
mile,  but  the  extent  of  the  Territory  has  been  calculated  as 
containing  nine  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  square  miles;  so 
that  the  lands  of  this  immense  section  thus  far  occupied  do  not 
count  a  thirtieth  part  of  its  extent. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  give  a  correct  estimate  of  the  num- 
ber of  Indians  who  still  hold  possession  here;  the  principal 
tribes  live  in  the  northern  part,  that  is,  the  Chippewas  and 
Sioux ;  there  are  also  a  number  of  Winnebagoes  from  Wiscon- 
sin, Sacs,  Foxes,  Iowas  and  other  tribes.  All  together,  they 
number  about  fifty  thousand  Indians. 

The  Government  will  deal  with  them  as  they  have  been 
dealt  with  in  all  the  western  States  of  the  American  Union; 
that  is,  it  will  gradually  acquire  the  ownership  of  their  lands 
and  give  them  in  exchange,  money  or  merchandise.  In  less 
than  ten  years,  the  southern  part  of  Iowa  will  find  itself 
entirely  without  Indian  occupants ;  in  the  northern  portion, 
because  of  the  more  severe  climate  and  vast  prairies,  they  may 
probably  continue  to  live  there  during  the  next  half  century. 

The  land  of  this  Territory  is  very  fertile,  especially 
towards  the  south ;  every  species  of  grain  can  be  cultivated 
there,  domestic  animals  find  rich  pasturage  for  seven  months 
of  the  year  in  the  vast  prairie  lands.  But  no  fruit  bearing 
trees  are  native  there,  and  those  transplanted  from  other 
countries  rarely  come  to  maturity ;  the  apple  is  the  only  fruit 
that  seems  to  suit  the  soil  and  climate  of  Iowa,  especially  in 
the  upper  part  of  the  state. 

Near  the  rivers  are  large  forests  from  ten  to  twenty  miles 
in  breadth ;  the  settlers  set  much  value  on  the  forests,  because 
the  prairies  constitute  the  greater  part  of  the  Territory,  while 
this  timber  is  used  not  only  for  fuel,  but  for  building  houses 
also  and  making  fences  around  their  cultivated  fields.  The 
rivers  navigable  for  steamboats,  are  chiefly  the  Mississippi, 
the  Missouri,  the  Iowa,  the  Des  Moines,  the  Saint  Peter,  and 
some  others  of  lesser  importance.  The  climate  is  much  colder 
than  in  Europe  under  the  same  latitude:  from  the  month  of 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    227 

November  to  the  end  of  March  the  thermometer  generally  keeps 
below  the  freezing  point,  and  in  the  depth  of  winter  falls 
often  to  twenty  or  even  thirty  degrees  below  in  the  more 
northern  sections  of  the  country.  Snow  covers  the  ground 
for  about  three  months  and  the  rivers  are  frozen  over  so 
completely  as  to  serve  during  the  winter  as  the  most  solid  of 
pavements,  not  only  for  men  but  for  draught  animals  also, 
so  that  journeys  of  hundreds  of  miles  are  made  upon  their 
frozen  waters.  The  months  of  June,  July  and  August  are 
quite  hot  but  upon  the  immensity  of  the  great  natural  plains, 
ordinarily  even  in  summer,  one  enjoys  a  cool  and  refreshing 
breeze. 

The  principal  cities  of  Iowa  are  situated  upon  the 
Mississippi  River,  as  Burlington,  Dubuque,  Davenport, 
Bloomington,  Fort  Madison  and  Iowa  City  in  the  interior, 
which  last  is  now  the  capital  of  the  Territory;  the  number 
of  inhabitants  in  each  of  these  varies  from  one  to  two  thou- 
sand. There  are  also  very  many  other  little  cities  rising 
along  the  principal  rivers  and  in  the  interior  also,  which  will 
be  important  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  for  the  business 
activity  and  population.  The  principal  products  of  Iowa  are 
the  lead  from  the  Dubuque  Mines,  wheat,  Indian  corn, 
potatoes  and  principally  pork,  which  salted  in  barrels  is  ex- 
ported to  other  countries.  In  the  spring  of  1843  me  mer- 
chants of  the  city  of  Burlington  despatched  in  this  manner 
by  their  steamboats  more  than  thirty  thousand  hogs  raised 
by  the  farmers  of  their  vicinity. 


CHAPTER  XX 

HOW  THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 
CAME  INTO  POSSESSION  OF  THE  IMMENSE 
COUNTRIES  ONCE  INHABITED  BY  INDIAN 
TRIBES. 

The  fact  of  seventy  thousand  settlers  within  the  course  of 
ten  years,  crossing  the  Mississippi  in  order  to  find  homes  in 
the  region  of  the  vast  territory  of  Iowa  bordering  the  River, 
where,  before  this,  the  Indian  tribes  had  been  dwelling,  must 
of  its  nature,  excite  in  the  reader  of  these  Memoirs  the  wish 
to  know  in  what  manner  the  Government  of  the  Republic  ob- 
tained possession  of  these  regions  to  the  exclusion  of  the 
Indians.  A  few  words  will  suffice  to  throw  light  upon  such 
an  acquisition  of  new  land,  to  which  must  be  attributed  the 
surprising  and  exceedingly  great  emigration  of  settlers  to- 
wards the  West. 

While  the  United  States  were  English  colonies,  they  con- 
tained less  than  three  million  inhabitants  and  held  possession 
of  the  lands  along  the  coast  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean;  the  rest 
of  that  part  of  North  America  was  in  peaceable  possession  of 
numerous  tribes  many  of  whom  are  now  extinct.  After  the 
establishment  of  the  Republic,  the  emigration  from  Europe 
increased  to  such  an  extent  that  it  became  necessary  to  seek 
new  countries  whereon  to  locate,  and  then  was  inaugurated 
that  system  of  treaties  between  the  Government  and  the  savage 
bands,  by  means  of  which  the  former  got  possession  of  the 
lands  occupied  by  the  latter.  In  this  manner  were  formed  all 
the  Central  and  Western  States,  which  up  to  the  present  cen- 
tury had  been  in  a  state  of  nature,  with  a  few  villages  inhabited 
by  aborigines  to  be  found  here  and  there,  at  great  distances 
from  one  another. 

[228] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    221) 

Although  the  colonists  had  desired  the  civilization  of  the 
natives,  they  were  not  willing  to  sacrifice  their  own  interests 
on  that  account,  so  they  kept  moving  forward  to  cultivate  the 
most  fertile  lands  and  most  beautiful  sites  or  most'  healthful 
positions  along  the  great  River.  The  traders  greedy  for  gain 
introduced  that  traffic  by  which  the  simple  native  could  never 
have  any  advantage  but  was  a  victim  of  one  more  wary  than 
he,  and  one  whose  bad  example  taught  him  evil  ways.  From 
all  this  it  was  plain  that  the  European  and  the  native  Ameri- 
can could  not  live  together  peaceably,  both  their  interests  and 
their  characters  are  so  widely  different  and  so  completely 
irreconcilable.  This  state  of  affairs  compelled  the  Government 
to  demand  sometimes  from  one  tribe,  sometimes  from  another, 
possession  of  a  tract  usually  contained  between  two  rivers  and 
embracing  many  millions  of  acres.  The  Indians  then  would 
withdraw  to  other  sections  farther  away,  over  which  either 
they  or  the  Government  held  possession, — but  whenever  for 
different  causes  this  was  found  impracticable,  the  whole  of  the 
tribe  or  perhaps  a  part  of  it  was  left  on  a  portion  of  the  land 
which  they  had  occupied,  although  surrounded  on  all  sides  by 
European  settlers. 

The  geographical  position  of  many  Indian  tribes  deserves 
special  attention  of  the  reader.  The  tract  of  land  thus  set 
apart,  is  called  in  the  United  States  an  "Indian  Reservation," 
that  is,  "riserba  indiana"  because  reserved  for  their  special 
use  and  independent  of  the  Government,  like  all  the  lands  of 
the  Indians.  Those  who  have  lived  upon  the  Reservation 
many  years,  have  learned  a  little  English  and  some  small 
knowledge  of  Religion ;  at  the  same  time,  from  the  vicinity  of 
the  civilized  people  and  constant  intercourse  with  them  they 
have  become  amalgamated  with  them  to  a  great  extent,  so  that 
they  are  no  longer  of  pure  Indian  race.  This  is  evident  from 
the  color  of  the  skin  which  has  changed  from  dark  red  to 
sallow  white.  Many  of  these  remnants  of  tribes  have  adopted 
in  a  measure  the  customs  of  the  civilized  people,  but  have 
never  reached  such  a  degree  but  that  the  most  superficial 
observer  can  recognize  how  inferior  in  all  things  they  are  to 


230    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

the  European,  and  how  incapable  of  real  civilization.  Their 
small  progress  is  ever  and  always  accompanied  by  a  moral 
descent  and  it  is  an  ever  present  fact  that  they  have  invariably 
degenerated  from  that  simplicity,  innocence  and  good  faith 
which  distinguishes  those  who  inhabit  districts  farthest  away 
from  civilization. 

But  to  return  to  our  subject,  it  will  be  observed  that  the 
Republic  recognizes  the  right  of  possession  by  these  many 
tribes  over  the  lands  where  they  live,  although  the  vast  extent 
of  these  lands  is  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  number  of  indi- 
viduals who  compose  these  tribes.  The  precise  limits  of  the 
territory  belonging  to  each  are  often  undetermined.  An  actual 
sale,  however,  seems  sometimes  to  decide  these  geographical 
uncertainties.  On  the  borders  of  the  States,  the  tribes  usually 
hold  less  extensive  possessions  than  those  of  the  more  distant 
tribes,  and  on  this  account,  the  Government  secures  from 
these  last  the  right  over  immense  tracts  or  the  privilege  of 
placing  other  people  there.  There  are  many  who  believe  that 
the  aborigines  have  no  real  right  to  the  soil  beyond  what  is 
necessary  to  their  support  and  adapted  to  their  manner  of  liv- 
ing; but  others  consider  the  Indians  as  the  first  lawful  pos- 
sessors of  the  entire  country. 

Any  sale  whatever  that  might  be  made  by  the  natives  to 
a  foreign  Government  or  to  an  individual,  even  an  American, 
is  held  as  null  and  void  by  the  Republic,  for  she  alone  is 
recognized  by  conquest  as  mistress  of  all  the  countries  between 
the  boundaries  of  Canada  and  Mexico. 

Whenever  it  is  found  necessary  to  purchase  the  proprie- 
torship of  a  tribe  over  a  part  of  the  country,  the  Govern- 
ment authorizes  certain  individuals  to  assemble  the  chiefs 
who  gathered  in  Council,  listen  in  grave  silence  to  the  pro- 
posal made  by  the  Commissioners ;  they  then  consult  among 
themselves,  and  if  they  consider  it  advisable  to  accept  the  pro- 
posal without  conditions,  the  matter  is  speedily  settled ;  but  in 
case  they  offer  objections  regarding  the  place  or  the  extent  of 
land  desired  by  the  Government,  or  if  any  matter  regarding  the 
proffered  price  displeases  them,  then  delays  and  hot  disputes 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    231 

follow  until  the  parties  come  to  an  amicable  agreement.  The 
contracts  of  sale  are  written  in  English  and  translated  by  an 
interpreter  to  the  chiefs,  and  these  in  the  presence  of  several 
witnesses  affix  a  mark,  each  after  his  own  name  which  has 
already  been  written  down  by  a  notary.  Such  treaties  are 
of  no  value,  however,  until  the  legislative  body  of  the  Govern- 
ment assembled  in  the  City  of  Washington  has  given  thereto 
its  lawful  and  final  sanction. 

In  price  for  the  lands,  the  Indians  usually  receive  an  annual 
sum  of  many  millions  of  dollars  (American)  for  a  given 
period  according  to  the  extent  and  quality  of  the  land  sold, 
the  value  of  which  varies  from  five  cents  to  one  dollar  per 
acre.  But  there  is  seldom  a  certainty  as  to  the  precise  number 
of  acres  estimated  in  a  sale,  for  the  reason  that  these  are  for  the 
most  part  lands  of  which  little  is  known,  and  nearly  all  lying 
between  rivers  whose  course  has  not  yet  been  exactly  ascer- 
tained, so  an  approximate  value  is  agreed  upon.  The  pay- 
ments are  made  once  a  year  by  Government  officials  at  some 
post  convenient  for  the  Indians ;  the  heads  of  families  receive 
a  certain  number  of  dollars  in  proportion  to  the  total  annual 
amount  and  according  to  the  number  of  individuals  who  com- 
pose the  tribe  and  of  the  family  so  represented  by  their  re- 
spective heads.  But  this  is  not  the  only  arrangement  for  all 
treaties;  there  are  material  differences  both  as  to  the  manner 
and  the  matter  of  payments;  these  consist  often  of  part  in 
money  and  part  in  goods  and  provisions  distributed  among  the 
Indians  as  is  most  convenient,  besides  pecuniary  allotments 
for  the  education  of  their  children. 

The  removal  of  a  tribe  to  a  new  abode  does  not  take  place 
immediately  after  the  sale  but  is  deferred  for  one  or  two 
and  even  for  five  years.  It  may  here  be  remarked  that  the 
money,  the  leaving  one's  native  soil,  the  traveling  to  another 
land,  and  the  circumstances  of  new  surroundings  are  ever  and 
always  accompanied  by  dissipation,  by  disease,  and  by  various 
calamities  which  before  our  very  eyes  lessen  the  numbers  of 
the  Indians,  who  are  leaving  the  country  to  the  numberless 


232    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

civilized  nations  coming  from  the  States  and  from  Europe, 
destined,  in  the  decrees  of  Divine  Providence  to  overspread 
that  vast  continent  and  to  behold  the  entire  destruction  of  the 
tribes. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

FIRST  FOUNDATION  OF  CATHOLICITY  AT  SNAKE 
HOLLOW  NOW  POTOSI— THE  CHURCH  OF 
SAINT  THOMAS  IS  BUILT  HERE. 

As  a  portion  of  these  Memoirs  may  be  of  use  one  day 
as  assistance  in  the  history  of  the  Diocese  of  Milwaukee, 
which  comprehends  the  Territory  of  Wisconsin,  it  will  not  be 
out  of  place  here  to  make  mention  of  the  first  establishment 
of  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  place  called  in  English,  Snake 
Hollow,  that  is  in  Italian,  Scavi  del  serpente. 

About  fifteen  miles  from  the  southern  boundary  line  of 
Wisconsin,  there  is  a  valley  three  miles  in  length,  terminating 
at  the  Mississippi  River.  During  the  War  with  the  Indians  in 
1832,  a  cave  was  discovered  here  containing  a  great  number  of 
rattlesnakes ;  on  this  account  when  they  began  to  dig  there 
in  search  of  lead,  the  place  was  called  Snake  Hollow.  The 
Lead  Mines  in  this  part  of  the  Territory  being  very  rich, 
many  flocked  there  in  search  of  the  precious  metal,  and  in  this 
manner  many  settlements  were  made  in  the  valley  under 
various  names;  the  principal  one  at  present  where  trade  is 
centered  is  called  Potosi,  situated  about  three  miles  from 
the  River. 

It  was  in  July,  1838,  that  the  Missionary  made  his  way 
to  Snake  Hollow,  celebrated  the  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  Altar 
there  for  the  first  time  in  a  poor  little  house,  and  preached 
the  word  of  Truth.  Notwithstanding  the  small  number  of 
Catholics,  not  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty,  he  decided 
to  build  a  little  frame  Church;  during  that  year  the  ground 
and  nearly  all  materials  necessary  were  made  ready;  so  the 
next  year,  though  not  without  much  difficulty,  they  succeeded 
in  putting  the  House  of  God  in  such  condition  that  Mass 

[233] 


234    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

could  be  there  celebrated;  the  little  Church  was  dedicated  to 
Saint  Thomas,  the  Apostle.  To  administer  the  holy  Sacra- 
ments, to  give  instructions  to  the  people,  to  lay  the  founda- 
tions of  a  parish,  and  to  obtain  from  the  faithful  the  means 
needed  for  the  building  of  the  Church,  many  were  the  visits 
during  1838  and  1839  made  by  the  Priest  to  Potosi,  which 
was  only  twenty-four  miles  from  Galena.  The  Right  Rever- 
end Bishop  Loras,  after  arriving  at  Dubuque,  visited  the 
faithful  of  this  district  many  times  and  sent  a  Priest  there  reg- 
ularly twice  a  month  until  1841,  at  which  time  the  Reverend 
James  Causse,  a  Frenchman  by  birth,  was  appointed  Pastor. 
The  congregation  then  counted  five  hundred  souls.  The 
Chapel  cannot  hold  them,  and  a  larger  one  will  be  built  as 
soon  as  possible.  There  were  several  conversions  of  Protest- 
ants to  the  Catholic  Faith,  notwithstanding  the  great  zeal  of  the 
Methodists  and  other  sectarians. 

There  are  two  happy  results  following  the  establishment 
of  a  little  Chapel  in  the  new  towns  of  sections  in  the  United 
States  that  are  just  settled ;  the  first  is,  that  many  Catholics 
are  prevented  from  losing  the  practice  of  their  holy  Religion, 
by  offering  them  at  least  now  and  then  an  opportunity  of 
assisting  at  the  celebration  of  the  holy  Mysteries  and  of  hear- 
ing the  Word  of  God,  all  of  which  cannot  well  be  done  in  the 
small  dwellings  of  the  poor  people;  the  second  is  that  the 
Catholics  who  settle  in  new  countries  usually  prefer  the  vicin- 
ity of  a  Church  in  order  to  avoid  the  great  risk  of  losing  the 
Faith  when  they  see  themselves  deprived  of  Religious  succor. 
Thus  the  Church  becomes  an  important  central  point  for  the 
immigration  of  people,  and  not  seldom  is  it  the  seed  of  cities 
or  the  chief  cause  why  the  settlers  in  its  vicinity  are  all  or 
nearly  all  Catholics. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

THE  MISSION :  ITS  CONDITION  PREVIOUS  TO  THE 
ARRIVAL  OF  THE  BISHOP  OF  DUBUQUE  IN 
1839. 

The  progress  which  holy  Religion  had  made  in  the  Mis- 
sions up  to  this  time  did  not  consist  in  conversions  of  sec- 
tarians, but  in  the  improvement  in  the  lives  of  the  Catholics. 
The  conversion  of  Protestants  to  the  Faith  is  a  labor  much 
more  difficult  than  that  of  persuading  obstinate  sinners  to 
repentance;  the  former  deprived  of  Faith,  are  found  less  able 
to  give  up  the  evil  and  practise  the  good,  while  the  latter  have 
only  to  rekindle  with  good  will  that  Faith  that  is  dead  within 
them.  Some,  ever  ready  to  believe  that  every  marvel  takes 
place  on  the  Missions,  imagine  the  conversion  of  Protestants 
to  be  a  matter  of  daily  occurrence,  and  the  principal  occupa- 
tion of  Priests  in  the  sparsely  settled  parts  of  the  United 
States,  to  be  instructing  and  receiving  them  into  the  bosom  of 
the  Church.  Facts,  however,  prove  that  this  is  only  a  secondary 
labor,  for  the  Priest's  principal  mission  consists  not  in  im- 
planting the  Faith  but  in  enkindling  it  and  preserving  it  among 
the  Catholics  born  in  that  part  of  the  world,  or  those  who 
have  emigrated  thither  from  Europe.  From  this  circumstance, 
then,  it  follows  that  many,  many  times  the  good  example  of 
the  faithful  and  the  zealous  preaching  of  the  Missionary  are 
the  means  which  Almighty  God  makes  use  of  to  call  many 
sectarians  to  the  Unity  of  Religion. 

Without  pausing  to  reflect  upon  the  truth  of  this  wide- 
spread belief  of  the  Mission  of  the  Catholic  Clergy,  we  shall 
content  ourselves  with  observing  that  the  work  to  which  the 
Missionary  was  consecrated  from  the  year  1835  to  1839  con- 
sisted in  establishing  among  Catholics  religious  worship  and 

[235] 


236    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

the  observance  of  the  laws,  both  Divine  and  Ecclesiastical.  It 
must  be  borne  in  mind  that  there  were  three  thousand  five 
hundred  Catholics  scattered  over  a  vast  expanse  of  country, 
midst  a  far  greater  number  of  Protestants, — without  Church, 
without  Altar,  without  Sacraments,  without  the  Gospel 
preached  to  them ;  moreover  the  tender  souls  of  the  youth 
were  exposed  to  the  peril  of  being  brought  up  in  indifference 
towards  Religion.  Now  let  one  consider  the  great  distances 
between  places,  the  coldness  of  those  who  have  for  a  long 
time  been  living  in  the  neglect  of  all  Religious  duties,  the 
ignorance  of  Christian  truths,  the  labor  of  erecting  temples  to 
the  Lord,  the  poverty  of  the  settlers,  the  many  perils  and  dif- 
ficulties of  the  ministry,  and  let  him  judge  whether  all  that  was 
not  enough  to  occupy  the  time,  the  zeal,  and  the  whole  soul  of 
one  lone  Priest,  isolated  from  his  brethren  and  without  any 
exterior  help  whatever. 

Much  more  important  was  it  to  the  holy  cause  of  Religion 
to  call  back  to  a  Christian  life  those  who  through  Divine  Mercy 
had  already  received  the  Faith,  rather  than  to  turn  one's  ener- 
gies towards  one  who  had  never  known  that  light.  Experience 
teaches  us  that  the  conversion  of  Protestants  depends  more 
upon  the  good  example  of  Catholics  than  upon  the  power  of 
reasoning. 

Before  the  arrival  of  Right  Reverend  Bishop  Loras  with 
a  few  Priests,  there  were  already  three  temples  to  the  Lord 
wherein  the  Holy  Sacrifice  was  offered ;  many  hundreds  of 
the  faithful  frequented  the  Holy  Table ;  the  truths  of  Catholic 
Doctrine  had  been  the  subject  of  very  many  sermons  and 
familiar  instructions  in  many  places  of  the  vast  mission  field. 
The  people  in  general  observed  the  laws  of  the  Church ;  the 
prejudices  and  mistaken  ideas  of  Protestants  against  the 
dogmas  and  practices  of  the  true  Religion  had  been  overcome 
in  part.  Besides  all  this  there  was  the  visible  improvement 
in  the  daily  lives  of  many  who  had  once  been  careless  Cath- 
olics. 

It  is  certain  that  the  reception  of  the  Sacraments  of  Bap- 
tism and  of  Matrimony  assisted  greatly  to  organize  the  various 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    237 

parishes.  In  the  number  of  the  newly  baptized  were  five  adult 
Protestants  and  many  children  of  non-Catholic  parents.  Yet 
with  all  this,  as  will  be  seen  later,  very  much  more  remains  to 
be  done  by  the  evangelical  laborers  of  our  Redeemer  who 
are  destined  to  toil  in  that  portion  of  His  Church. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

MONSIGNORE  MATTHIAS  LORAS  ARRIVES  FROM 
EUROPE— TAKES  POSSESSION  OF  HIS  CA- 
THEDRAL CHURCH  OF  DUBUQUE  AND  VIS- 
ITS THE  CITY  OF  GALENA. 

The  worthy  Prelate,  Matthias  Loras,  consecrated  Bishop  of 
Dubuque  on  the  tenth  of  December,  1837,  in  the  Cathedral 
Church  of  the  city  of  Mobile,  State  of  Alabama,  had  pro- 
longed his  stay  in  Europe  in  the  interests  of  his  diocese  until 
late  in  the  year  1838.  When  he  arrived  at  the  city  of  Saint 
Louis,  State  of  Missouri,  distant  five  hundred  miles  from  his 
own  See  by  the  way  of  the  River,  he  was  there  detained  by  the 
masses  of  ice  which  even  then  had  already  formed  in  the 
northern  waters  of  the  Mississippi  and  was  coming  down  in 
great  quantities  drifting  on  its  majestic  current.  The  Bishop 
had  brought  with  him  four  French  seminarians,  whom  he 
had  placed  in  a  Seminary  in  the  diocese  of  Baltimore,  that 
they  might  learn  the  English  language;  the  Reverend  Joseph 
Cretin  and  the  Reverend  Anthony  Pelamourgues  had  also 
accompanied  him  from  France  in  order  to  devote  themselves 
to  the  missions  of  Dubuque  Diocese.  Notwithstanding  the 
extreme  anxiety  of  the  Prelate  to  reach  the  place  destined  for 
him  by  Divine  Providence,  and  which  he  had  not  yet  seen, 
necessity  compelled  him  to  remain  the  entire  winter  in  the 
Diocese  of  the  Reverend  Bishop  Joseph  Rosati,  because  on 
account  of  the  severity  of  the  season,  navigation  by  the  River 
was  blocked  until  the  next  spring.  The  zeal  which  burned 
within  his  heart  found  a  way  there  also  to  employ  his  precious 
time,  as  he  was  incessantly  busied  in  the  duties  of  his  holy 
ministry,  assisted  by  his  learned  and  devoted  Priest,  the  Rev- 
erend Joseph  Cretin. 

[238] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    239 

If  Monsignore  Loras  was  awaiting  with  holy  impatience  for 
the  soft  breezes  of  spring  to  open  to  him  the  way  to  his  See, 
not  less  was  the  ardent  longing  of  the  Missionary,  for  as  the 
only  Priest  in  the  vast  Territory  of  Iowa,  he  eagerly  desired 
to  become  acquainted  personally  with  him  who  had  been 
chosen  to  be  his  Prelate.  With  the  hope  of  accompanying  him 
to  Dubuque  for  the  solemnity  of  Easter  of  that  year,  the  Priest 
left  Galena  on  the  nineteenth  of  March  by  the  first  steamboat 
for  the  city  of  Saint  Louis,  where  he  arrived  on  the  twenty- 
third  of  the  month.  The  good  Bishop  Rosati  accompanied  the 
Missionary  on  horseback  for  many  miles  to  a  village,  where 
Monsignore  Loras  with  Reverend  J.  Cretin  were  occupied  in 
giving  a  Mission  to  the  People  of  French  descent.  I  leave  it 
to  the  reader  to  form  some  idea  here  of  the  mutual  consolation 
afforded  by  this  first  meeting  of  two,  who  for  nearly  two  years 
loving  one  another  in  the  Lord  and  conversing  by  letter,  at 
last  had  the  consolation  of  embracing  and  of  more  closely 
sealing  that  Priestly  and  holy  friendship  which  has  for  its  one 
aim  the  propagation  of  the  Faith. 

The  honored  and  venerable  Bishop  of  Saint  Louis,  who 
with  his  never-failing  zeal  for  the  holy  ceremonies  of  the 
Altar  was  in  person  celebrating  the  solemn  rites  of  Holy 
Week,  desired  that  our  Priest  would  assist  him  therein,  in 
his  Cathedral  and  that  he  would  preach  on  Good  Friday. 
Monsignore  Loras  being  occupied  on  his  Mission  here  until 
after  the  octave  of  Easter,  it  was  not  possible  for  him  to  go 
to  Dubuque  before  the  middle  of  April.  On  the  twenty-first 
day  of  April,  with  all  due  episcopal  solemnity,  the  Prelate 
took  possession  of  his  own  Cathedral  Church ;  assisting  were 
Reverend  Joseph  Cretin,  Reverend  Anthony  Pelamourgues  and 
the  Missionary  who  preached  an  appropriate  discourse  to  the 
large  audience  of  Catholics  and  Protestants. 

To  the  heart  of  him  who,  since  the  beginning  of  the  year 
1835  until  the  event  of  the  coming  of  the  Bishop,  had  stood 
alone  with  the  care  upon  him  of  a  numerous  flock  scattered 
over  a  vast  extent  of  country,  did  not  the  presence  of  a  Bishop 
and  two  other  Priests  prove  the  greatest  possible  consolation  ? 


240    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

The  edifying  piety  and  zeal  impressed  upon  their  countenances 
on  that  solemn  occasion,  gave  to  the  orator  of  the  day  that 
spontaneous  and  powerful  eloquence  which  from  a  heart  all 
stirred  and  overflowing  with  true  joy,  sank  into  the  souls  of 
his  Christian  hearers,  drawing  from  every  eye  tears  of  loving 
gratitude  to  Almighty  God,  Who,  to  pour  forth  His  Mercies 
upon  them  yet  more  abundantly,  had  erected  a  Bishop's  See 
in  their  Church. 

And  thus  after  four  years  of  isolation  and  privations  of 
soul,  the  Missionary  found  himself  surrounded  by  the  sweet 
and  edifying  presence  of  other  evangelical  laborers,  not  to  be 
separated  from  them  except  for  the  space  of  several  months 
while  the  duties  of  his  ministry  were  calling  him  to  the  re- 
mote stations  of  the  vast  diocese. 

On  the  twenty-eighth  of  April,  the  Bishop  deigned  to  offi- 
ciate solemnly  in  the  Church  at  Galena,  and  to  give  his  Vicar 
an  opportune  occasion  of  preaching  to  a  numerous  congrega- 
tion upon  the  divinity  and  nobility  of  the  Catholic  Hierarchy. 
The  imperfect  ideas  held  by  Protestants  upon  such  an  im- 
portant point  arise  from  the  fact  that  among  them,  the  epis- 
copal character  is  only  a  name  and  a  mere  distinctive  mark  of 
ecclesiastical  preeminence,  but  deprived  of  that  Apostolical 
authority  to  which  the  Catholic  owes  the  perfect  and  uninter- 
rupted organization  of  his  Church.  The  Methodists,  the  Bap- 
tists, the  Presbyterians  and  various  other  sects,  to  conform 
themselves  to  evangelical  discipline,  as  they  believe,  have  given 
the  title  of  Bishop  to  some  individuals  among  their  ministers. 
who,  however,  do  not  confer  the  Sacraments  of  Confirmation 
or  of  Holy  Orders,  since  they  believe  in  two  Sacraments  only, 
namely,  Baptism  and  Communion.  The  highest  authority  held 
by  their  bishops  consists  in  superintending  the  good  order  of 
their  churches,  in  presiding  over  religious  meetings,  and  en- 
joying for  the  rest  an  unlimited  jurisdiction  over  the  ministers  ; 
in  their  religious  functions  they  wear  no  garb  which  distin- 
guishes them  from  lay  persons,  and  they  despise  the  use  of 
Priestly  robes  in  the  Catholics. 

On   the  occasion   when   Monsisrnore  Loras  was  vested   in 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    241 

Episcopal  robes,  many  Protestants  gathered  to  the  Church, 
drawn  thither  by  curiosity  to  see  a  Catholic  Bishop.  The  Mis- 
sionary who  was  well  acquainted  with  the  character  of  this 
people,  spoke  then  upon  the  Divine  establishment  of  the  Catho- 
lic Hierarchy,  adducing  convincing  proofs  from  both  the  Old 
and  the  New  Testament,  of  the  Heaven-appointed  decrees 
upon  that  important  dogma  of  the  Church.  To  dispel  the 
frivolous  objections  of  the  sectarians  against  the  use  of  epis- 
copal insignia,  he  commented  upon  that  portion  of  the  forty- 
fifth  chapter  of  Ecclesiasticus,  where  the  holy  scribe  speaks  of 
the  "robes  of  glory"  and  "majestic  attire,"  of  the  beauty  of 
the  "mitre  lovely  to  the  eyes  for  its  beauty,"  all  of  which  in 
the  holy  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  serve  to  manifest  the  glory, 
the  beauty  and  the  authority  of  its  Priesthood.  These  Scrip- 
tural quotations  accompanied  by  explanations  of  the  significa- 
tion of  each  part  of  the  pontifical  attire  helped  to  dissipate 
the  prejudices  of  the  Protestant  hearers,  to  make  the  sanctity 
of  worship  shine  forth  more  resplendently,  and  to  confirm 
indifferent  Catholics  in  the  truth  of  holy  Faith. 

It  should  here  be  observed  that  sectarians  in  the  United 
States  are  rather  opposed  to  that  phase  of  worship  which 
manifests  itself  by  means  of  sacred  ceremonies  and  sacred 
garb,  so  that  the  forms  of  Catholic  services  rarely  agree  with 
the  ideas  which  have  been  imbibed  concerning  the  Christian 
Religion.  In  general  they  suppose  Religion  destitute  of  any 
symbolic  practice  whatever,  and  knowing  little  of  the  present 
condition  of  man,  they  prefer  to  consider  Religion  as  speaking 
truth  to  the  spirit  without  directing  itself  at  all  to  the  senses 
through  means  of  external  symbols.  From  this  it  may  be 
gathered  how  useful  it  is  to  treat  this  subject  in  a  manner  most 
fitted  to  combat  principles  so  false. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

SPIRITUAL  PROGRESS  AT  DUBUQUE— DEPARTURE 
AND  RETURN  OF  THE  BISHOP— ILLNESS  OF 
THE  MISSIONARY— CONDITION  OF  THE 
EPISCOPATE  IN  THAT  CITY. 

The  increase  in  the  number  of  the  Clergy  added  various 
temporal  cares  to  the  ordinary  duties  of  the  Missionary,  since 
he  was  entrusted  by  the  Bishop  with  attending  to  the  erection 
of  a  residence  for  the  clergy,  and  also  to  the  completion  of  the 
Church  in  Dubuque.  For  the  latter  he  had  already  expended 
the  sum  of  five  thousand  dollars,  contributed  by  the  Catholics 
and  Protestants  of  the  parish,  during  the  four  years  when 
alone  he  had  exercised  the  ministry  in  that  Mission.  Where 
everything  has  to  be  done,  and  where  the  facilities  for  such 
labor  so  ready  to  hand  in  more  populous  places  are  entirely 
lacking,  one  who  wishes  to  build  must  himself  be  architect 
and  superintendent;  therefore,  although  obliged  to  celebrate 
Mass  and  preach  every  Sunday  in  the  Church  at  Galena,  the 
Priest  repaired  every  Monday  to  Dubuque,  in  order  to  attend 
during  the  week  to  the  erection  of  the  Bishop's  house.  Be- 
sides this,  during  the  month  of  May  he  gave  the  May  Devo- 
tions in  the  Cathedral,  to  prepare  the  people  for  the  devout 
celebration  of  the  Day  of  Pentecost,  which  was  to  be  solem- 
nized that  year  for  the  first  time  by  the  administration  of  the 
Sacrament  of  Confirmation. 

Almighty  God,  Who  in  His  goodness  employs  the  Servants 
of  the  Altar  to  call  the  erring  back  to  that  conversion  that 
bringeth  forth  fruits  of  penance,  showed  forth  the  power  of 
His  grace  by  the  return,  almost  without  exception,  of  tepid 
and  negligent  Catholics  to  the  reception  of  the  Sacrament  of 
Penance  and  the  Eucharist.     The  Holy  Spirit  rendered  Him- 

[242] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    243 

self  visible  in  the  moral  conduct  of  many,  who  had  led  unwor- 
thy lives  for  years  and  who  now  began  a  course  of  Christian 
life  and  persevered  to  the  end  in  the  practice  of  virtue  and 
penance. 

As  the  Bishop  could  not  perform  the  sacred  Mysteries  in 
the  Church,  on  account  of  the  labor  going  on  within  the  build- 
ing, His  Grace  with  Rev.  Anthony  Pelamourgues,  journeyed 
up  the  Mississippi  River  as  far  as  Prairie  du  Chien,  a  village 
often  mentioned  in  these  Memoirs.  Thence  they  proceeded 
to  a  place  called  Saint  Peter,  about  three  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  from  Dubuque,  where  the  Saint  Peter  river  flows  into 
the  Mississippi.  This  Mission  proved  of  very  great  advantage 
to  the  poor  Canadians  who  were  engaged  in  the  Indian  trade  in 
that  far  distant  section.  On  their  return  they  rowed  down 
the  Great  Waters  in  a  little  canoe  hollowed  out  of  a  log  and 
made  a  stay  of  several  days  at  Prairie  du  Chien;  there  the 
Bishop  laid  with  solemn  service  the  corner-stone  of  the  Church 
dedicated  to  the  Archangel  Gabriel,  and  for  the  good  of  the 
people  he  left  there  as  Missionary  the  Priest  who  had  been 
his  companion.  In  the  beginning  of  August,  1839,  Monsignore 
Loras  returned  from  his  long  Visitation  to  Dubuque  accom- 
panied by  an  Indian  half-breed,  with  whom  as  they  sat  in  the 
narrow  canoe,  he  had  shared  the  painful  task  of  rowing  for 
more  than  three  hundred  miles. 

The  Feast  of  the  Assumption,  the  day  appointed  for  the 
consecration  of  the  Cathedral,  was  drawing  near,  when  our 
Missionary  exhausted  with  constant  journeys  and  many  tem- 
poral anxieties,  fell  ill  of  a  malignant  bilious  fever.  It  pleased 
the  Lord  to  keep  him  thus  humiliated  and  suffering  during  a 
month,  depriving  him  of  the  consolation  of  assisting  in  person 
at  the  solemn  consecration  of  that  Cathedral,  the  object  to 
which  he  had  devoted  such  bitter  toil  for  many  years.  But  as 
consolation  upon  his  bed  of  pain,  there  was  granted  that  Faith, 
which  taught  him  that  Almighty  God  in  His  Justice  chastises 
our  faults  in  this  life,  so  as  to  receive  us  to  the  bosom  of  His 
innumerable  mercies  in  the  next.    How  consoling  is  this  truth ! 

As  we  must  not  in  the  course  of  these  Memoirs  make 


244    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

further  mention  of  the  Mission  of  Dubuque,  a  few  remarks 
regarding  it  must  be  added  here.  The  congregation  of  the 
Catholics  of  this  Church  reaches  the  number  of  one  thousand 
five  hundred,  many  of  whom  live  in  the  outskirts  of  the  city 
which  at  present  contains  three  thousand  inhabitants.  The 
Bishop  has  a  residence  capable  of  lodging  seven  Priests  by 
allotting  one  room  to  each ;  the  Bishop  lives  with  the  greatest 
economy,  and  has  no  other  revenue  than  the  voluntary  alms  of 
the  faithful  and  the  contributions  of  the  Propaganda.  His 
Missionaries  in  various  parts  of  the  Diocese  are  often  com- 
pelled to  depend  upon  him  for  assistance,  in  order  to  pay  their 
expenses  for  traveling,  clothing  and  sometimes  for  daily  sub- 
sistence. The  contributions  from  Europe,  however,  are  almost 
entirely  consecrated  to  the  building  of  the  Churches  so  neces- 
sary in  these  newly  settled  countries  of  the  West.  A  man 
who  attends  to  all  the  household  affairs  is  the  only  person 
employed  in  the  Bishop's  House.  At  this  frugal  table  whereon 
is  neither  wine  nor  any  delicacy  whatever,  his  Priests  also 
gather. 

The  duties  of  the  Prelate  are  those  of  the  Missionaries, — 
preaching,  hearing  Confessions,  administering  the  Sacraments, 
traveling  on  horseback  to  sick  calls  when  he  is  called  outside 
the  city,  and  often  celebrating  the  Mass  for  the  parish  in  the 
absence  of  other  Priests.  This  is  not  the  practice,  however, 
of  all  the  Bishops  in  the  United  States,  but  only  of  those  who 
prefer  to  do  so,  or  are  obliged  to  supply  the  need  of  Priests. 

The  Church  of  Dubuque  can  glory  in  receiving  to  its  bosom 
more  than  sixty  converts  and  in  presenting  an  example  of 
exemplary  lives  among  nearly  all  the  Catholics.  There  are 
also  well  regulated  schools  for  both  sexes.  The  Clergy  who 
never  number  more  than  two  or  three,  enjoy  even  among 
Protestants,  that  good  report  that  is  won  only  by  a  stainless 
life. 

The  charity  of  the  faithful  in  Europe  bestowed  through 
the  Propaganda  of  Lyons,  and  also  that  of  Vienna,  has  sup- 
plied the  Bishop  with  the  necessary  funds  for  the  building 
of  the  Episcopal  residence,  the  completion  of  the  Cathedral 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    245 

and  the  purchase  of  some  lands  near  the  Church.  If  the 
Associates  in  that  most  important  and  useful  work  knew  how 
indispensable  were  these  charities  to  the  establishment  of  the 
diocese  of  Dubuque,  they  would  be  glad  in  the  Lord  that  they 
were  cooperators  in  such  good. 


CHAPTER  XXV 

DOGMATIC  DISCUSSIONS  IN  THE  CHURCH  AT  GA- 
LENA, DURING  THE  AUTUMN  OF  1839. 

In  a  country  wherein  the  restless  religious  sects  have  unre- 
strained freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  printing-press,  there 
must  arise  disputes  and  contentions  all  springing  from  the 
animosity  and  jealousy  that  each  bears  towards  all  the  others. 
The  Catholic  Church  also  appears  in  the  eyes  of  Protestants  a 
subject  of  attack  and  angry  contempt  whenever  she  seems  to 
rise  up  from  a  state  of  humiliation  to  any  marked  degree  of 
dignity  and  moral  influence ;  this  is  the  motive  which  urges 
the  various  ministers  to  direct  their  discourses  against  the 
principal  Truths  of  the  Faith,  which  they  reject  as  mere  human 
opinions.  Consequently,  in  order  to  reply  to  what  had  been 
alleged  in  the  meetings  of  the  opponents  of  Catholicity,  the 
Priest  was  obliged  to  notify  the  public  that  the  arguments  on 
which  were  based  the  dogmas  contradicted  by  these  men, 
would  be  presented  in  the  Church  at  Galena. 

These  dogmatic  discussions  were  held  during  the  month  of 
October,  1839,  in  the  evening  after  sunset,  the  most  con- 
venient hour  for  the  greater  number  of  the  people,  unable  to 
attend  during  the  day.  For  ten  days  there  was  a  great  con- 
course of  sectarians  at  the  Church,  drawn  thither  mostly  by 
curiosity.  The  Unity  and  Infallibility  of  the  Church,  the 
Sacraments  of  Penance  and  the  Eucharist,  the  use  of  holy 
Images,  the  Intercession  of  the  Saints,  Purgatory,  the  Su- 
premacy of  the  Pope  and  Indulgences,  offered  the  Missionary 
almost  inexhaustible  subjects  for  discourses  which  were  an 
hour  and  a  half  or  even  two  hours  in  length. 

Thoroughly  heretical  is  the  intense  and  obstinate  opposi- 
tion of  Protestants  to  the  Religious  devotion  of  Catholics  to 

U46] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELL1,  O.  P.    247 

the  Most  Blessed  Virgin,  Mother  of  our  Lord  and  God,  Jesus 
Christ;  while  they  recognize  the  Divinity  of  the  Son  they 
deny  to  the  Mother  any  privilege  whatever  over  other  crea- 
tures, and  they  mock  at  the  prayer,  Ave  Maria,  and  at  the 
practice  of  praying  before  her  image,  calling  it  pure  idolatry. 
Could  the  heart  of  a  Priest  help  being  fired  with  holy  zeal  to 
defend  the  honor  of  her,  who  was  declared  by  the  Angel  Ga- 
briel to  be  "full  of  Grace,  blessed  amongst  all  women,  upon 
whom  was  to  come  the  Holy  Ghost"  and  "whom  the  power 
of  the  Most  High  was  to  overshadow"?  (Luke  I,  28,  35.) 
Ah  no!  He  Who  truly  loves  Jesus,  has  his  heart  filled  with 
sentiments  of  love,  and  has  a  tongue  ever  ready  to  tell  of 
Mary,  chosen  our  most  tender  Mother  by  our  Saviour  when 
He  spoke  from  the  cross:  "Mother,  behold  thy  Son,"  and  to 
the  disciple,  "Behold  thy  mother?"  (St.  John  XIX,  26,  27.) 

For  the  fulfilling  successfully  the  office  of  controversial 
sermons,  a  very  important  duty  of  the  sacred  ministry,  it  was 
not  necessary  to  commit  to  memory  the  dissertations  or  to 
write  them  out;  it  was  sufficient,  while  comprehending  the 
full  force  of  the  arguments  to  be  discussed,  to  arrange  them 
in  such  order  as  to  closely  connect  them,  and  make  them  clear 
and  easily  understood  by  the  hearers.  To  the  practice  of 
expressing  one's  own  thoughts  in  public,  is  due  that  spon- 
taneous, easy  and  persuasive  manner  of  speaking  which,  spite 
of  its  simplicity  and  imperfection,  becomes  eloquent  and  per- 
suasive, when  the  speaker  on  Religious  controversy  is  animated 
by  the  holy  Truth  which  he  preaches. 

No  one  ever  attempted  to  disturb  the  peace  and  order  of 
these  assemblies  though  they  were  often  composed  of  persons 
thoroughly  opposed  to  Catholicity  and  even  of  sectarian  min- 
isters ;  therefore  the  Preacher  was  at  perfect  liberty  to  employ 
all  those  arguments  which  he  judged  helpful  to  the  subject 
under  discussion.  He  judged  it  well,  often  to  cite  the  texts 
from  the  Protestant  Bible,  the  opinions  and  beliefs  of  learned 
non-Catholics  when  these  bore  witness  to  the  truth,  thus  all 
the  better  defending  the  teachings  of  the  Church.  A  mistaken 
zeal  calculated  to  offend  against  the  charity  due  to  those  who 


248    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

are  in  the  darkness  of  error,  would  tend  only  to  drive  the 
wanderer  farther  from  the  right  way. 

Before  the  controversial  discourse,  prayers  were  recited 
to  invoke  that  assistance  which  alone  gives  life  to  the  words 
of  the  Servant  of  the  Altar;  at  the  close  the  people  were  dis- 
missed with  prayer.  The  Religious  Conferences  on  the  various 
Missions  of  which  we  speak  were  very  frequent,  but  here- 
after mention  will  be  made  of  only  the  most  noteworthy. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

CONVERSION  OF  A  LAWYER  TO  CATHOLICITY- 
WHY  CONVERTS  ARE  GIVEN  CONDITIONAL 
BAPTISM. 

The  Baptism  of  a  lawyer,  of  his  wife  and  daughter,  con- 
soled many  hearts  that  autumn.  He  was  a  man  highly  edu- 
cated, deeply  learned  in  the  law,  well  versed  in  the  Greek  and 
Latin  languages,  and  on  that  account  well  able  to  study  and  to 
comprehend  the  full  force  of  arguments  offered  either  for 
or  against  Catholicity.  Trained  in  the  sect  of  Calvinism, 
termed  "The  Covenanters,"  he  had  received  from  infancy  the 
most  erroneous  ideas  that  could  be  inspired  by  the  hatred  and 
ignorance  of  the  true  Faith.  But  as  he  himself  related,  hav- 
ing entered  a  Presbyterian  Church  in  Boston  through  curiosity, 
he  heard  a  portion  of  a  discourse,  by  a  minister  of  that  sect, 
who  in  a  fury,  carried  away  by  his  own  vain  learning  and  his 
blind  hatred  towards  the  Church,  with  envenomed  accents 
hurled  against  her  the  vilest,  most  unheard  of  accusations,  all 
the  more  fiercely,  because  excited  by  the  large  audience  that 
filled  the  place  of  worship.  Among  other  things  the  Preacher 
announced  that  the  Beast  of  the  Apocalypse  had  set  its  talons 
on  the  city  of  Boston  and  left  its  track  there  in  the  Church  of 
the  Holy  Cross.  He  wished  to  signify  by  this  that  as  the 
Catholic  Church  was  the  Society  of  Antichrist,  this  monster 
had  his  followers  and  his  abode  in  that  Church.  This  blas- 
phemy revolted  the  soul  of  the  young  Calvinist,  and  filled  him 
with  the  determination  to  study  that  doctrine  which  was  so 
horribly  vilified  by  a  fanatic  declaiming  as  might  a  demon 
from  the  pit.  Thus  did  Divine  Mercy,  whose  ways  are  mys- 
terious to  men,  lead  one  who  knew  not  the  Truth  to  its  per- 
fect knowledge. 

[249] 


250    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

Having  emigrated  from  Boston  to  Galena,  the  lawyer  with 
his  wife  began  to  frequent  the  Catholic  Church  and  often  to 
converse  with  the  Priest,  with  whom  he  held  many  confer- 
ences in  his  own  family.  Directed  by  divine  grace  to  which 
they  corresponded  with  sincere  determination  to  believe  and 
practise  all  the  truths  of  holy  Faith,  both,  with  their  daughter, 
came  to  the  Missionary's  house  to  be  baptized.  Bishop  Loras 
honored  the  occasion  by  standing  as  sponsor. 

It  must  be  remarked  that  these  converts  had  already  re- 
ceived Baptism  in  the  respective  Churches  of  which  they  had 
formerly  been  members ;  yet  the  Priest  did  not  hesitate  to 
administer  to  them  the  Sacrament  of  Regeneration,  for  the 
reason  that  the  Baptism  conferred  by  Protestants  may  be 
held  as  null  and  void.  In  the  United  States  few  of  the  Re- 
ligious sects  retain  that  Sacrament  as  absolutely  necessary  for 
securing  eternal  salvation;  many  of  them  take  no  care  to  con- 
fer it  upon  their  members,  and  as  the  ministers  in  general  have 
no  registration  of  Baptisms  it  often  happens  that  persons 
advanced  in  age  have  no  positive  proof  of  having  been  bap- 
tized. Moreover  according  to  the  Profession  of  Faith  of  some 
Protestant  Churches,  Baptism  is  only  a  ceremony,  in  itself  of 
no  importance,  simply  a  visible  sign,  by  means  of  which  one 
declares  that  he  is  a  follower  of  Christ  and  a  member  of  the 
Church.  Moreover,  the  Presbyterians,  who  are  very  numerous 
in  America,  declared  in  their  Confession  of  Faith,  printed  in 
1824,  that  it  is  wrong  not  to  receive  Baptism,  but  yet  it  is  not 
of  absolute  necessity  for  the  salvation  of  the  soul.  This  is  the 
opinion  of  almost  all  Protestant  ministers,  who  for  remission 
of  sins,  including  those  committed  before  Baptism,  recognize 
no  other  means  of  absolute  necessity  except  simple  contrition 
and  belief  in  God.  Not  only  the  want  of  Faith  would  render 
the  Sacrament  of  no  effect,  but  also  grave  omissions  in  the 
manner  of  conferring,  tend  to  render  it  of  no  avail.  Some 
use  the  water  so  that  it  is  not  a  veritable  "pouring  on,"  but 
they  merely  bathe  the  forehead  or  another  part  of  the  body; 
others  so  alter  the  form  of  the  words  as  to  render  them  un- 
suited  to  the  Sacrament ;  there  are  also  ministers,  who  allow 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    251 

so  long  a  time  to  elapse  between  the  pouring  of  the  water  and 
the  words  of  the  formula  of  Baptism,  that  of  one  act  they  make 
two  and  these  entirely  disconnected. 

Since,  in  these  cases  there  is  the  possibility  of  a  doubt  as 
to  the  validity  of  so  great  a  Sacrament,  there  has  been  intro- 
duced into  the  United  States  the  invariable  practice  of  admin- 
istering the  Sacrament  of  Baptism  (under  conditions,  how- 
ever) to  all  converts  from  Protestantism  in  order  to  remove 
any  doubt  that  might  afterwards  trouble  the  conscience  of  the 
new  Catholic  or  of  the  Priest ;  persuaded  that  it  is  better  to 
expose  Baptism  to  the  risk  of  nullity  (in  case  that  it  had  been 
validly  conferred  by  their  ministers)  than  to  fail  in  the  ful- 
filment of  a  precept  so  solemn  and  divine,  and  thus  deprive 
those  who  desire  to  enter  the  bosom  of  the  Church  of  the 
benefits  of  the  Redemption.  Whenever  Baptism  is  adminis- 
tered conditionally,  then  the  convert  to  the  Faith  is  under 
obligation  to  make  a  general  Confession  of  his  whole  life, 
in  order  to  receive  Sacramental  Absolution,  since  it  would 
have  been  indispensable  had  the  convert  been  truly  baptized. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

FIRST  VISIT  TO  THE  CITY  OF  BURLINGTON, 
WHERE  SOME  PREPARATIONS  FOR  WAR 
DID  NOT  PERMIT  A  LONG  STAY. 

In  the  autumn  of  1839,  Monsignor  Loras  had  conferred 
Holy  Orders  upon  three  of  his  seminarists  whom  he  had 
brought  from  France :  one  of  these,  Reverend  Remigio  Petiot, 
a  native  of  France,  was  sent  to  Galena  as  Assistant  to  our 
Missionary,  who  through  this  acquisition  found  himself  at 
liberty  to  visit  other  sections  of  the  vast  diocese.  In  the 
month  of  November,  he  made  a  journey  overland  to  the  little 
new  city  of  Davenport,  where  the  Reverend  A.  Pelamourgues 
had  been  appointed  pastor  of  the  congregation  there;  thence 
continuing  his  journey  he  reached  the  city  of  Burlington,  about 
one  hundred  and  eighty  miles  from  Dubuque  by  the  usual 
road.    This  city  as  well  as  Dubuque  was  founded  in  1833. 

The  Territorial  Government  of  Iowa  held  its  sessions  that 
year  in  the  Methodist  Church  at  Burlington.  Here,  although 
the  prosperous  city  contained  about  two  thousand  inhabitants, 
after  much  investigation  the  Missionary  succeeded  in  finding 
only  twenty-seven  Catholics,  some  of  whom  were  from  the 
surrounding  country.  The  first  Mass  in  Burlington  was  cele- 
brated on  the  seventeenth  of  December,  1839,  in  the  poor 
dwelling  of  a  German  family.  After  the  Divine  Mysteries, 
as  the  Priest  looked  at  so  small  a  number  of  the  faithful 
midst  so  many  sectarians,  he  found  in  the  loving  words  of 
our  Redeemer,  "Fear  not,  little  flock,  for  it  hath  pleased  your 
Father  to  give  you  a  kingdom"  (Luke  XII,  32),  a  subject  of 
great  consolation  to  his  hearers,  and  of  wondrous  solace  to 
his  own  heart,  which  that  hour,  felt  to  its  very  core  the  sor- 
rowful effects  of  Protestant  surroundings.    He  who  announces 

[252] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    253 

the  Word  of  God  in  non-Catholic  countries  should  look  upon 
such  circumstances  as  a  spur  to  his  own  zeal ;  for  where  unbe- 
lief reigns,  there  assuredly  has  he  a  motive  for  striving  to 
extend  the  Kingdom  of  God. 

A  fierce  dispute  between  the  people  of  the  Territory  and 
those  of  the  State  of  Missouri  about  the  boundary  line  which 
separated  those  two  independent  sovereignties,  had  filled  the 
town  with  soldiers  from  the  northern  counties  of  Iowa.  Gov- 
ernment business  was  suspended,  and  the  preparations  neces- 
sary for  quartering  so  many  persons  upon  the  contested  line, 
during  a  cold  winter,  produced  general  confusion.  However, 
the  whole  matter  was  amicably  settled,  for  the  Missourians 
abandoned  the  undertaking,  leaving  the  Territory  to  the  pos- 
session of  that  part  of  the  land  which  it  believed  to  be  its 
own.  In  the  United  States,  civil  wars  usually  originate  in  the 
Printing  Office,  where  also  peace  is  concluded ;  the  news- 
papers are  the  battle-fields,  whereon  there  is  a  sacrifice,  at  the 
most,  of  the  honor  of  a  few  citizens.  Would  to  God  that  all 
the  horrors  of  war  might  be  reduced  to  simple  typographical 
wars  like  these ! 

But  in  the  midst  of  so  much  disturbance,  the  Missionary 
did  not  consider  it  wise  to  make  a  long  delay ;  so  after  visiting 
and  administering  the  Sacraments  to  a  number  of  Catholics 
within  the  range  of  twelve  miles,  he  returned  to  Davenport. 
In  order  to  draw  some  good,  however,  from  so  long  a  journey 
in  the  depths  of  a  severe  winter,  he  used  to  preach  Catholic 
Doctrine  wherever  a  favorable  occasion  presented  itself,  min- 
gling therein  those  moral  reflections  that  make  it  more  per- 
suasive. In  a  village  called  Rockingham,  during  two  evenings, 
he  had  a  large  audience  of  Protestants,  who,  instead  of  taking 
offence  at  hearing  their  condemnation  in  the  speaker's  expo- 
sition of  their  own  contradictory  beliefs,  took  the  greater  liking 
to  him  on  that  very  account.  The  same  circumstance  happened 
in  Savanna,  a  little  town  in  Illinois ;  in  the  next  summer,  too, 
he  had  occasion  many  times  to  preach  to  large  assemblies  of 
sectarians,  in  the  open  air,  under  the  shade  of  grand  old  oaks. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 

CHURCH  OF  SAINT  PATRICK,  AT  MAQUOKETA, 
THE  CENTER  OF  CATHOLIC  EMIGRATION- 
HOW  A  CHURCH  BECOMES  THE  SOURCE  OF 
CHURCH  PROPERTY. 

The  vast  unbroken  tracts  of  land  in  the  vicinity  of  Du- 
buque City  were  beginning  to  change  their  aspect,  thanks  to 
the  many  colonists  coming  there  from  Europe  and  from  the 
eastern  States  of  the  Republic.  The  woods  were  falling  be- 
neath the  axes  of  the  new  settlers  intent  on  drawing  wealth 
from  the  natural  prairies,  which  their  plough-shares  had 
changed  into  meadows  covered  with  rich  harvests.  Among  the 
most  remarkable  places  whereon  the  tide  of  Catholic  emigra- 
tion had  checked  itself  might  be  considered  that  section  of 
country  called  Maquoketa,  so  called  from  the  river  that  bor- 
ders it.  The  place  is  situated  about  twenty  miles  from  Du- 
buque. 

Many  Irish  families  had  settled  there  to  gain  with  the 
sweat  of  their  brow,  that  bread  which  was  denied  them  in 
their  own  oppressed  native  land.  Therefore  in  the  beginning 
in  the  year  1840,  the  Missionary  considered  it  his  duty  to  go 
to  this  settlement,  and  to  do  his  utmost  towards  the  building 
of  a  little  Church,  and  this,  on  account  of  the  poverty  of  the 
people  and  the  abundance  of  timber,  could  be  built  only  of  this 
material.  He  distributed  among  the  forty-two  men  of  the 
settlement  the  labor  of  preparing  a  great  number  of  beams, 
from  twenty  to  forty  feet  long;  in  the  spring  each  of  these 
men  carried  to  the  site  of  the  Church,  his  own  handiwork. 
As  they  were  not  in  a  position  to  contribute  money,  they  gave 
their  assistance  in  many  ways  to  lessen  the  expense  of  build- 
ing.    Bishop  Loras  gave  the  sum  of  six  hundred  dollars  out 

r  254 1 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    255 

of  the  contributions  from  the  Propaganda,  with  which  to  pro- 
cure some  building  materials  and  pay  the  workmen  employed 
by  the  Missionary  for  the  erection  of  the  Church,  which  was 
dedicated  to  Saint  Patrick,  the  Apostle  of  Ireland. 

The  wonderful  results  of  this  feeble  beginning  were  a  sud- 
den increase  in  the  number  of  settlers  in  the  neighborhood  of 
the  Church,  so  much  so  that  the  section  whereon  it  stood  was 
very  soon  occupied  entirely  by  Catholics.  When  Divine  Service 
was  first  held  there  in  the  summer  of  1840  there  were  no  more 
than  a  hundred  Catholics ;  three  years  later  the  parish  of  Saint 
Patrick  where  the  zealous  Reverend  J.  C.  Perrodin  regularly 
attended  and  officiated,  contained  six  hundred  souls  and 
possessed  a  school.  The  reader  should  bear  in  mind,  that  a 
Church  in  the  forest,  where  Divine  Service  is  held  even  occa- 
sionally, in  the  Western  States  becomes  a  point  of  reunion  for 
the  Catholics  especially  for  the  Irish  and  the  Germans,  who 
form  real  colonies,  so  there  are  many  places  in  America  called 
"Irish  Settlement"  and  "Dutch  Settlement,"  that  is  "Stabili- 
metito  Irlandese,"  "Stabilimento  Tedesco."  And  since  the  sec- 
tarians always  cherish  a  secret  aversion  to  the  Catholic  Re- 
ligion, so  they  usually  prefer  to  settle  far  away  from  the 
Church,  and  if  they  find  themselves  in  possession  of  any  land 
near  it,  they  readily  sell  it.  Throughout  the  area  of  thirty- 
six  square  miles,  forming  what  the  American  surveyors  call 
a  "Township,"  wherein  Saint  Patrick's  Parish  is  situated, 
there  is  not  at  present,  one  Protestant  proprietor. 

From  this  may  be  understood  the  important  influence  that 
even  a  simple  frame  Church  holds  in  a  new  country.  Already, 
the  increased  number  of  parishioners  requires  a  building  double 
the  size  of  the  present  one,  and  their  annual  increase  in  num- 
bers makes  it  evident  that  one  Priest  alone  will  not  be  able  to 
fulfill  all  the  duties  of  his  ministry. 

The  building  of  Churches  in  sparsely  settled  districts,  where 
the  land  owned  by  the  Republic  is  not  yet  for  sale,  is  equiva- 
lent to  sowing  the  seed  of  considerable  Church  property ;  this 
originates  in  the  recognized  right  of  the  first  settler  upon  the 
tract  of  at  least  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  to  buy  it  at  the 


256    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

lowest  price,  that  is,  at  one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  an 
acre,  wherever  the  Government  shall  put  it  up  for  public  sale. 
Now  the  right  of  a  Church  as  represented  by  a  Priest  or  even 
by  a  layman,  is  respected  by  the  people,  as  is  that  of  any  in- 
dividual whatsoever.  But  usually,  there  is  reserved  to  the 
Church  the  privilege  of  possession  over  three  hundred  and 
twenty  acres,  or  more ;  nor  is  there  a  necessity  to  pay  for  this 
immediately,  or  even  for  several  years,  for  the  reason  that  the 
Government  after  buying  the  land  from  the  Indian  tribes  is 
obliged  to  spend  three  or  four  years  in  having  these  surveyed, 
and  in  preparing  copies  of  the  geographical  map  of  each  tract 
of  land  six  miles  square.  Without  these  preparatory  meas- 
ures, the  public  lands  cannot  be  offered  for  sale.  The  people 
who  settle  in  the  neighborhood  of  a  Church,  therefore,  serve 
to  enhance  the  value  of  the  land,  and  thus  in  the  course  of 
time,  to  secure  good  Church  property.  And  in  this  manner 
does  Divine  Providence  little  by  little  prepare  a  means  of  sub- 
sistence for  the  numerous  bands  of  clergy  who  will  one  day  be 
needed  for  the  service  of  the  Catholicity  of  the  United  States. 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

HOW    SETTLERS    OBTAIN  POSSESSION    OF    THE 
LAND  FROM  THE  GOVERNMENT. 

It  will  now  be  in  order  to  describe  the  mode  by  which  Gov- 
ernment disposes  of  the  lands  purchased  by  contract  from  the 
Indian  tribes,  as  related  in  Chapter  XX  of  this  Second  Book 
of  the  Memoirs. 

As  soon  as  the  savages  leave  the  country  which  they  have 
ceded  to  the  Government,  many  citizens  of  the  Republic  hasten 
thither  for  the  purpose  of  taking  possession  of  the  most  fer- 
tile and  attractive  places.  No  permission  is  required  for  this, 
because  Government  land,  so  long  as  it  is  not  sold,  is  con- 
sidered the  property  of  whoever  is  cultivating  it,  so  far  as  the 
use  of  it  is  concerned.  And  since  five,  ten,  even  fifteen  or 
twenty  years  may  elapse  from  the  time  when  the  Indians 
evacuate  the  land  until  the  date  of  public  sale,  it  often 
happens  that  various  sections  throughout  the  country  are 
populated  by  many  thousand  families,  who  do  not  own  one 
foot  of  the  soil  they  have  cultivated.  This  may  take  place 
in  almost  every  Western  State,  but  especially  in  the  Terri- 
tories of  the  Republic.  Here  is  one  of  the  reasons  why  there 
are  no  poor  in  America,  and  at  the  same  time  the  cause  of  the 
immense  emigration  to  the  West  of  the  nations  from  Europe 
and  from  the  Eastern  States.  They  go  there  to  cultivate  the 
Government  lands,  which  are  yet  so  vast  and  so  thinly  settled 
that  they  can  satisfy  in  abundance  the  desire  of  every 
immigrant. 

Before  the  Government  can  dispose  of  these  lands  in  its 
possession,  it  must  employ  a  great  number  of  surveyors  in 
different  quarters  of  the  country.  First  they  divide  the  land 
into  tracts  six  miles  square,  setting  a  permanent  sign  at  each 

[257I 


258    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

corner  of  these  squares,  either  by  a  mark  upon  the  trunk  of 
a  tree,  or  by  a  mound  of  earth,  raised  for  the  purpose.  Only 
the  most  skilful  men  are  appointed  for  this  stage  of  the  work, 
the  most  important  of  any  on  account  of  the  extreme  exacti- 
tude required;  this  is  carried  on  over  many  hundreds  of  miles 
without  interruption.  All  of  these  tracts,  six  miles  square, 
are  then  subdivided  into  thirty-six  English  square  miles,  each 
marked  at  the  corners  as  above.  Maps  are  prepared  of  each 
section  of  land,  that  is  of  each  of  these  six-mile  squares,  in 
accordance  with  the  results  of  the  surveyors'  work;  on  each 
map  is  represented  the  precise  course  of  every  river,  great  and 
small,  of  the  lakes,  swamps,  hills,  prairies,  woods,  and  of  any 
noticeable  or  peculiar  feature  of  the  surface.  And  also  each 
square  mile  on  these  maps  is  again  divided  into  four  equal 
parts  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres.  Everything  is  num- 
bered so  as  to  avoid  the  least  confusion.  This  land  survey 
is  often  carried  on  in  places  entirely  destitute  of  inhabitants, 
and  it  serves  to  give  us  reliable  knowledge  of  the  geography 
and  nature  of  the  country ;  geographies  and  maps  made  pre- 
vious to  this  survey  are  entirely  untrustworthy.  Three  copies 
of  these  authenticated  maps  are  prepared ;  one  is  kept  in  the 
office  of  the  Surveyor  General  of  that  particular  district  of  the 
Republic  to  which  the  Government  has  appointed  him ;  a 
second  copy  is  forwarded  to  the  General  Land-Office  in  the 
capital  city  of  Washington ;  and  the  third  is  intended  for  the 
use  of  the  respective  offices  where  the  lands  are  sold  to  the 
settlers. 

When  the  Government  has  ready  to  hand  the  results  of  the 
work  described  above,  a  notification  is  sent  through  the  public 
press,  by  order  of  the  President  of  the  United  States,  that 
in  such  a  State  or  Territory,  in  such  a  County,  certain  sections 
of  land,  numbered,  etc.,  will  be  sold  at  auction  at  a  specified 
hour  and  place,  etc.  Six  months  after  the  notification,  the 
lands  on  sale  are  put  up  at  auction  by  the  employees  in  their 
respective  offices ;  the  lowest  price  is  one  dollar  and  a  quarter, 
American  money,  corresponding  to  about  six  and  one  half 
francs.     Those  settlers  who  are  actually  occupying  and  cul- 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    259 

tivating  the  lands  put  up  at  auction  are  the  first  to  present 
themselves  and  bid  at  the  sale,  and  ordinarily  they  have  no 
competitors,  as  there  it  would  be  considered  robbery  to  outbid 
those  settlers,  so  the  latter  can  buy  eighty  or  a  hundred  acres 
at  minimum  price.  Those  sections  that  have  not  been  occupied 
sometimes  yield  at  the  auction  more  than  the  lowest  price. 

The  lands  that  do  not  find  sale  at  the  auction,  can  be 
secured  by  any  one  at  private  sale  in  the  office  and  at  the 
lowest  price.  The  first  proprietors  receive  from  the  Govern- 
ment the  bill  of  sale,  made  out  in  thoroughly  legal  form  and 
on  parchment ;  this  is  called  "The  Patent."  Only  in  such  way 
can  the  citizens  or  any  foreigner  come  into  possession  of  the 
domains  of  the  Republic. 

Some  years  ago,  in  order  to  encourage  emigration  to  re- 
gions entirely  uninhabited,  the  Government  used  to  grant  to 
any  one  at  all  who  would  settle  upon  and  cultivate  those  lands, 
the  privilege  of  buying  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  these  at 
minimum  price,  and  to  the  exclusion  of  any  other  person 
who  should  offer  more,  but  on  account  of  various  abuses  and 
disorders  inseparable  from  such  a  privilege,  it  was  withdrawn 
by  Act  of  Congress. 

Although  the  Public  Treasury  annually  receives  many  mil- 
lions of  dollars  through  sale  of  its  lands,  yet  the  profit  is  very 
small,  for  first  the  Government  must  buy  these  lands  from  the 
Indians,  then  must  survey  them;  maps  and  charts  must  be 
made,  very  many  who  are  employed  in  the  work  must  be  paid, 
and  besides  all  this,  are  the  extraordinary  expenses  that  attend 
the  sale  itself. 


CHAPTER  XXX 

CONVERSION  AND  BAPTISM  OF  A  MOTHER  AND 
HER  EIGHT  CHILDREN. 

Those  causes  by  means  of  which  Divine  Goodness  calls  to 
the  bosom  of  Mother  Church  those  souls  who  are  astray  from 
her  may  often  appear  mysterious  to  human  understanding,  yet 
whenever  it  is  permitted  us  to  perceive  them,  we  find  them 
always  the  same;  they  are  innocence,  sincerity,  an  upright 
intention,  a  heart  disposed  to  piety  and  a  sincere  sorrow  for 
faults  committed.  Among  the  many  proofs  of  this  truth,  we 
may  justly  note  one,  the  conversion  of  a  mother  and  her  eight 
children.     This  was  in  April,  1840. 

This  lady  was  living  in  Illinois,  fifteen  miles  from  the 
city  of  Galena,  in  a  place  where  the  Priest  had  preached  several 
times;  a  dangerous  illness  that  threatened  her  life,  had  long 
confined  her  to  her  bed.  In  the  midst  of  her  sufferings  not- 
withstanding her  very  limited  knowledge  of  the  Catholic 
Religion,  she  was  fond  of  wearing  round  her  neck  a  little 
cross,  the  gift  of  a  Catholic  friend.  But  the  Evil  One  who 
always  trembles  and  flees  before  the  adorable  Sign  of  our 
Salvation,  strove  to  tear  it  from  her  breast,  through  the 
instrumentality  of  a  friend,  a  Protestant,  who  declared  it  to  be 
only  an  object  of  superstition,  that  keeping  a  cross  about  her 
was  entirely  useless,  and  unbecoming  to  one  who  professed 
the  doctrine  of  the  Bible.  The  temptress  did  not  fail  to 
employ  force  as  far  as  possible,  in  order  to  carry  out  her 
purpose.  But  the  heart  of  the  sick  woman  was  too  innocent 
and  devout  to  be  deceived  by  so  false  a  friend.  Who  can 
tell  what  burning  prayers  had  already  kindled  a  flame  of  love 
for  Jesus  Crucified  and  who  knows  if  the  adorable  Sign  of 
the  Son  of  Man  had  not  been  impressed  upon  that  suffering 

[260] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    261 

soul?  In  truth,  the  temptation  served  only  to  confirm  her  in 
her  tender  love  for  the  Cross,  to  condemn  even  more  earnestly 
those  beliefs  which  hated  it,  and  to  strengthen  the  idea  already 
conceived,  of  entering  the  bosom  of  the  Holy  Church.  Happy 
victory  of  the  Cross  of  Christ! 

But  other  difficulties  were  to  be  overcome  by  this  pious 
woman  before  receiving  the  Sacrament  of  Regeneration.  Her 
husband  who  had  been  a  Baptist  minister  for  many  years, 
could  not  regard  this  decision  of  his  wife  with  indifference; 
the  children  of  his  first  wife,  already  grown,  angered  by  their 
own  mistaken  ideas  regarding  the  Church,  which  they  had 
imbibed  from  infancy,  vehemently  opposed  their  step-mother, 
and  bitterly  reproached  her  for  the  simpleminded  weakness 
in  believing  a  doctrine  so  base  and  unreasonable.  To  this 
were  added  the  threats  of  friends  and  neighbors  loudly  declar- 
ing their  disapproval  and  determination  to  cast  her  off.  But 
a  soul  that  sincerely  loves  God  is  ready  to  lose  everything  to 
gain  Christ,  and  so  this  brave  woman  hearkening  to  the  voice 
of  Him  Who  said,  "If  any  man  cometh  to  Me  and  hateth  not 
his  father  and  mother  and  wife  and  children  and  brothers  and 
sisters,  ...  he  cannot  be  My  disciple,"  was  ready  to  give- 
up  husband,  children  and  friends  that  she  might  follow  the 
Crucified.  She  openly  declared  that  she  was  ready  to  be  hated 
by  all  the  world  and  banished  from  home,  rather  than  shrink 
from  professing  that  Religion  which  she  firmly  believed  divine, 
and  the  only  one  established  by  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

Faith  and  the  spirit  of  devotion  overcame  all  the  obstacles 
which  had  opposed  themselves  to  the  conversion  of  Mrs.  X. 
The  lady,  now  somewhat  restored  in  health,  sent  word  to  the 
Missionary  that  at  last  she  wished  to  receive  Holy  Baptism 
with  her  large  family.  He  hastened  to  the  home  where  Faith 
had  made  so  fair  a  conquest;  of  the  children,  the  five  who  had 
already  attained  the  use  of  reason,  at  the  sight  of  the  Priest, 
manifested  that  spiritual  joy  and  holy  reverence  inspired 
within  them  by  the  same  Religious  sentiments  that  burned  in 
the  heart  of  their  tender  mother.  Their  lively  desire  to  be- 
come members   of   Holy   Church   and   the   earnestness   with 


262    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

which  they  declared  their  belief  in  all  the  truths  revealed  by 
the  Divine  Redeemer  supplied  for  the  little  Religious  instruc- 
tion that  they  had  received.  To  assist  them  in  the  worthy 
reception  of  the  Sacrament  of  Regeneration,  the  Missionary 
held  a  discourse  upon  the  necessity  of  a  true  sorrow  for  sins 
already  committed  and  of  a  firm  determination  to  live  and  die 
as  true  Christians.  After  this  he  proceeded  to  administer 
Baptism,  in  their  own  home,  explaining  all  the  ceremonies 
prescribed  by  the  Roman  Ritual,  and  all  the  wonderful  effects 
of  the  Sacrament,  and  preparing  them  for  the  solemn  obliga- 
tion contracted  by  those  who  receive  it. 

It  was  a  consolation  to  the  heart  of  him  who  served  as  the 
happy  instrument  of  Divine  Mercy  to  behold  the  modesty,  the 
spiritual  peace  and  the  reverent  silence  which  accompanied  the 
prayers  and  the  holy  rites  of  the  Priest,  while  he  was  reconcil- 
ing to  Jesus  Christ  in  the  Baptismal  Waters,  this  mother  and 
her  eight  children,  and  they  could  not  conceal  their  holy 
anxiety  to  receive  it.  The  father  of  the  many  children  seemed 
well  content,  and  remained  in  the  room,  a  witness  of  the 
Catholic  Profession  of  Faith  as  made  by  that  wife  and  those 
children  whom  he  loved  so  tenderly ;  he  desired  to  know,  how- 
ever, why  they  did  not  believe  it  necessary  to  the  validity  of 
the  Sacrament  that  there  should  be  Total  Immersion  of  the 
neophytes  in  the  regenerating  waters,  as  he  had  taught  and 
practised  many  years  as  minister  in  the  sect  of  the  Baptists. 
The  sons  of  the  first  wife,  who  were  already  grown,  left  the 
house  on  the  occasion,  that  they  might  not  be  spectators  of 
what  they  called  a  useless  and  superstitious  practice. 

Some  time  after  the  Baptism,  the  mother  and  several  of  her 
children  were  prepared  to  receive  Holy  Communion,  which 
Bread  of  the  strong,  confirmed  them  in  the  Faith.  The  daily 
prayers  regularly  practised  by  this  young  family  in  their  home 
could  not  but  draw  the  heart  of  the  father  towards  a  Religion 
that  could  sink  into  the  very  heart  of  little  children  and  give 
them  the  semblance  in  their  devout  attitudes  of  the  very  angels 
themselves.  Once  as  the  Priest  was  relating  to  one  of  the 
daughters  just  converted  how  a  young  Christian  savage  once 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    263 

wept  over  the  unbelief  of  his  father,  who  refused  to  submit 
to  Faith,  all  at  once  the  happy  face  of  the  child  changed 
in  grief  that  bathed  her  innocent  countenance  with  tears  at 
the  thought  of  her  own  father.  In  the  conversion  of  this 
family  the  prophecy  of  our  Divine  Lord  seemed  verified  when 
He  said  in  Saint  John :  "And  other  sheep  I  have  that  are  not  of 
this  fold;  them  also  I  must  bring,  and  they  shall  hear  My 
Voice,  and  there  shall  be  one  fold  and  one  Shepherd."  (X,  16.) 


CHAPTER  XXXI 

THE  CHURCH  OF  SAINT  GABRIEL  THE  ARCHAN- 
GEL AT  PRAIRIE  DU  CHIEN,  AND  THAT  OF 
SAINT  PAUL  AT  BURLINGTON. 

It  would  weary  our  readers  to  even  attempt  a  detailed  ac- 
count of  the  many  journeyings  of  our  Priest  during  the  year 
1840;  for  this  would  necessitate  a  description  of  many  voy- 
ages, for  many  hundreds  of  miles  by  the  Mississippi  and  by 
land,  and  this  account  would  serve  no  useful  purpose ;  so  we 
will  content  ourselves  with  a  description  of  the  building  of 
two  Churches  at  the  same  time,  and  in  situations  far  distant 
from  each  other. 

We  have  already  narrated  that  in  1839,  Monsignor  Loras 
laid  the  corner-stone  of  the  Church  of  the  Archangel  Gabriel 
in  Prairie  du  Chien,  Territory  of  Wisconsin.  The  Missionary 
was  the  architect  of  this  building  of  stone  which  meas- 
ured one  hundred  feet  in  length  by  fifty  in  breadth ;  so  when 
work  was  resumed  upon  the  building  he  considered  it  neces- 
sary to  go  often  not  only  to  direct  the  work,  but  also  to 
rouse  the  people  to  contribute  the  necessary  material  and  so 
diminish  expenses.  With  this  object  in  view  for  a  number  of 
days  in  June,  he  worked  in  the  stone  quarries  with  the  people, 
helping  to  get  out  the  rock  necessary.  Yet  in  spite  of  most 
extreme  economy  possible,  the  pecuniary  resources  of  the 
Catholics  of  that  section  were  not  sufficient  to  complete  the 
enterprise,  so  laudable  and  necessary,  nor  would  it  have  been 
carried  to  the  promising  condition  in  which  it  now  stands,  had 
not  Bishop  Loras  supplied  the  generous  amount  of  fourteen 
hundred  dollars.  The  Bishop's  zeal  impelled  him  to  expend  a 
portion  of  the  contributions  from  the  Propaganda  upon  the 

[264] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    265 

spiritual  welfare  of  a  young  but  extensive  parish,  outside  of 
his  own  diocese. 

The  charity,  the  zeal,  the  learning,  the  entire  holy  and 
blameless  daily  life  of  the  Very  Reverend  Joseph  Cretin,  Mis- 
sionary at  Prairie  du  Chien  from  1841,  will  be  forever  held 
in  benediction  by  that  people,  for  whom  he  labored  so  earnestly 
to  fix  deep  into  their  souls  an  enlightened  piety.  To  this  ven- 
erated Priest  is  owing  almost  all  the  spiritual  good  wrought 
in  the  parish  of  Saint  Gabriel,  now  containing  more  than  a 
thousand  souls,  and  also  the  present  fine  condition  of  the 
Church  which  combines  an  elegant  simplicity  with  solidity  and 
spaciousness. 

In  the  same  year  another  House  of  God  was  built  in  the 
city  of  Burlington  on  the  Mississippi  in  the  Territory  of  Iowa, 
three  hundred  miles  from  Prairie  du  Chien.  The  very  small 
number  of  Catholics  there  in  the  midst  of  a  very  large  Prot- 
estant population  was  a  powerful  motive  for  introducing 
Catholic  Worship  there  as  speedily  as  possible,  for  delay  in 
such  a  matter  would  have  caused  greater  and  insuperable  ob- 
stacles to  the  spread  of  Truth  in  this  place,  an  important  posi- 
tion in  the  Diocese,  on  account  of  its  trade.  Our  Missionary 
had  the  entire  charge  of  this  undertaking  and  to  justify  the 
confidence  placed  in  him  he  was  obliged  many  times  in  the 
course  of  the  year,  to  leave  his  other  Missions  at  Mineral 
Point,  Dodgeville  and  Shullsburg  in  Wisconsin  and  betake 
himself  to  Burlington.  As  there  were  no  Catholics  there  in 
a  position  to  supply  a  piece  of  ground,  it  was  necessary  to 
purchase  it  from  a  Protestant,  and  before  winter,  thanks  to 
indefatigable  application,  he  had  the  consolation  of  beholding 
a  Catholic  Church  upon  a  beautiful  eminence  in  the  centre  of 
the  town.  It  must  be  noted  now  that  the  Methodists  owned 
a  large  building  in  this  place,  and  other  sectarians  held  their 
worship  there  while  the  true  disciple  of  Christ  was  almost 
unknown;  on  this  account  the  Church  at  first  roused  the 
ill  will  and  much-haranguing  of  those  who  had  always  hated 
it.  But  the  preaching  at  which  not  a  few  Protestants  assisted, 
the  Irish  and  the  Germans  who  emigrated  thither  and  in- 


266    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

creased  the  number  of  Catholics,  and  the  fact  of  the  people 
growing  accustomed  to  seeing  their  worship  practised  there 
reduced  the  opposition  to  a  concealed  aversion,  and  very  soon 
dissipated  many  prejudices. 

The  Church  at  Burlington  dedicated  to  the  Apostle,  Saint 
Paul,  is  fifty-five  English  feet  in  length,  built  of  brick,  with  a 
basement  to  be  used  as  a  dwelling  for  the  Priest,  and  for  a 
school.  The  highest  portion  of  the  site  whereon  it  is  built  has 
been  left  free  for  a  Church  of  greater  dimensions,  which 
before  ten  years  will  be  needed  for  the  number  of  the  faithful. 
This  is  the  case  always  in  all  the  new  cities  of  the  American 
Republic,  where  experience  has  taught  that  these  plans  are 
according  to  the  dictates  of  Christian  prudence,  always  soli- 
citous for  the  spiritual  needs  of  the  future. 


CHAPTER  XXXII 

SEVERAL  CONGREGATIONS  OF  CATHOLICS,  VIS- 
ITED BY  THE  BISHOP,  ACCOMPANIED  BY 
HIS  VICAR— THE  SENATE  OF  IOWA  IN  THE 
CATHOLIC  CHURCH  OF  BURLINGTON. 

The  zealous  Bishop  Monsignor  Loras,  in  the  interests  of 
his  Diocese,  in  the  autumn  of  1845,  went  to  the  city  of  Mobile 
in  the  State  of  Alabama,  distant  about  eighteen  hundred  miles 
from  Dubuque,  and  our  Missionary  accompanied  him  by  land 
into  the  Territory  of  Iowa,  visiting  with  him  the  different 
Congregations  of  the  faithful.  From  Galena  they  passed  on 
to  the  little  village  of  Charleston,  on  the  western  bank  of  the 
Mississippi,  administering  the  Sacraments  to  the  few  Catho- 
lics of  the  place ;  thence  went  on  as  far  as  the  beautiful  city 
of  Davenport.  In  this  place  the  people  were  desirous  of 
attending  an  exposition  of  the  principal  points  of  controversy 
contested  by  Protestants,  so  for  eight  evenings  the  Priest 
devoted  himself  to  satisfying  their  desires.  And  on  this  occa- 
sion to  impress  the  conviction  more  thoroughly  upon  the  minds 
of  the  many  sectarians  attending,  the  Bishop  publicly  pre- 
sented to  the  Preacher  at  intervals  during  the  course  of  the 
argument,  the  very  strongest  objections  that  non-Catholics 
bring  against  the  subject  under  discussion,  in  such  fashion  that 
the  objections  themselves  only  served  to  give  yet  greater  testi- 
mony to  Catholic  dogma.  The  results  of  these  controversial 
discourses  always  were  the  visible  reconciliation  of  public 
opinion  with  the  Church,  strengthening  true  believers  in  their 
faith  in  evangelical  truths,  and  sometimes,  too,  deciding  certain 
well-disposed  souls  to  undertake  those  preparations  that  pre- 
cede conversion. 

Continuing  our  journey  along  the  River  bank  and  through 

[267] 


268    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

the  city  of  Bloomington,  on  the  third  day  we  reached  Burling- 
ton, after  some  serious  obstacles  in  the  matter  of  bad  roads 
and  streams  swollen  by  heavy  rains.  Here  the  Bishop  had 
the  consolation  of  seeing  the  new  Church.  For  the  completion 
of  this  building  and  for  the  purchase  of  the  site  and  other 
expenses  the  Association  of  the  Propaganda  contributed  finally 
the  sum  of  four  thousand  dollars.  Leaving  this  place,  the 
Bishop  gave  his  blessing  to  his  Vicar,  and  began  his  journey 
by  steamboat  to  the  city  of  Mobile,  whence  he  was  not  to 
return  until  the  spring  of  1841. 

The  members  of  the  Legislature  of  Iowa  were  beginning  to 
assemble  in  Burlington  for  their  annual  session  of  seventy-five 
days,  which  that  year,  commenced  on  the  first  Monday  in  No- 
vember, and  the  Methodist  Church  had  been  used  provisionally 
foi  the  session  of  the  Senate  and  Representatives.  Through 
the  kindly  interest  of  a  number  of  his  friends  among  the  Sen- 
ators, the  Missionary  arranged  that  the  sessions  of  the  Senate 
should  be  held  in  his  Church  which  was  not  then  consecrated 
to  Divine  Worship.  Such  a  circumstance  proves  what  has 
already  been  affirmed  in  these  Memoirs,  that  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  in  its  action  has  no  regard  or  predilection 
for  one  Religion  in  preference  to  another. 

Aside  from  the  more  kindly  feeling  towards  Catholicity 
as  one  result  of  the  occupation  of  our  Church  by  the  Senate 
of  Iowa,  another  was  the  contribution  of  five  hundred  dollars 
and  other  considerable  profits  given  for  the  rent  of  sixty  days. 
This  contribution  added  to  that  from  the  people  served  to 
cancel  completely  the  entire  debt  contracted  for  erecting  the 
building.  During  the  Session  of  the  Legislature,  on  November 
twenty-second,  1840,  the  Priest  preached  for  the  first  time  in 
the  new  Church,  his  pulpit  being  the  same  desk  that  was  used 
by  the  President  of  the  Senate. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII 

PROGRESS  OF  THE  TERRITORY  OF  IOWA— DIF- 
FERENCES BETWEEN  ITS  GOVERNMENT 
AND  THAT  OF  A  STATE— ORIGIN  OF  IOWA 
CITY— THE  COUNTIES,  AND  THE  ORGANI- 
ZATION OF  THE  TERRITORY  INTO  A  SOV- 
EREIGN STATE. 

As  the  first  establishment  of  Catholicity  in  the  Capital  City 
of  Iowa  must  at  present  be  our  subject,  it  will  not  be  unaccept- 
able to  the  reader  to  know  something  of  the  origin  of  the 
City  itself;  this  will  be  of  very  great  assistance,  in  showing 
clearly  the  surprising  results  of  that  emigration  to  which  must 
be  attributed  not  only  the  formation  of  the  Western  States, 
but,  indeed,  the  very  creation  of  Dioceses. 

According  to  the  census  taken  by  order  of  the  United  States 
Government  in  1830,  the  vast  region  now  forming  Iowa,  con- 
tained not  one  inhabitant  except  the  Indians  and  a  few  citizens 
carrying  on  trade  with  the  tribes;  in  1836  it  contained  eleven 
thousand;  in  1838,  when  a  Territorial  Government  was  estab- 
lished, their  number  had  increased  to  eighteen  thousand ;  and 
in  1840,  to  forty-three  thousand;  at  this  date  there  are  esti- 
mated about  seventy  thousand.  This  population,  which  within 
the  short  space  of  ten  years,  from  1833  to  1843,  crossed  the 
great  River  Mississippi  to  seek  in  that  rich  soil  and  in  trade 
the  means  of  improving  their  condition,  is  an  intermixture  of 
Americans  of  European  descent,  with  emigrants  from  Ireland, 
from  Germany  and  other  countries  of  our  hemisphere.  And 
as  the  agriculturist  has  need  of  the  merchant  and  both  are 
aided  by  the  mechanic,  so  throughout  the  country  in  every 
direction  cities  rose  as  if  by  magic ;  forests  were  cut  down  by 
the  settler's  axe,  wild  prairies  changed  into  blossoming  fields, 

[269] 


270    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

the  trader,  the  traveller,  the  mail  carriers  from  every  quarter 
traversed  the  land. 

In  the  Act  of  the  Congress  of  1838  containing  the  legal 
organization  of  this  Territory,  the  location  of  the  Capital  City, 
the  centre  of  the  governing  power,  was  left  to  the  choice  of  the 
Legislative  body.  This  met  in  Burlington,  where  it  was  hold- 
ing its  sessions  provisionally  in  1839,  and  decreed  that  the 
Capital  of  the  Territory  should  be  built  in  Johnson  County, 
nearly  in  the  centre,  seventy-five  miles  from  Burlington  and 
eighty-six  from  Dubuque,  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Iowa  River, 
and  decreed  also  that  it  should  be  called  Iowa  City.  The  prin- 
cipal reason  for  such  choice  was  the  providing  convenient 
access  of  the  Members  of  Legislature  and  the  people  in  gen- 
eral, to  the  seat  of  their  own  Territorial  Government,  where 
the  sessions  are  held  in  the  State  House,  where  the  Governor 
is  to  be  found,  and  all  the  State  Officials,  and  also  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  Territory.  The  State  Capitals  serve  the  same 
purpose. 

The  more  notable  differences  between  a  Territorial  Gov- 
ernment and  that  of  a  State  are,  the  first  is  only  provisionary 
in  its  extent  and  in  all  its  laws,  because  adapted  to  a  new  and 
sparsely  settled  section,  under  the  guardianship  of  the  Gover- 
nor-General of  the  great  Republic,  which  forms  and  is  able  to 
change  its  organic  constitution;  the  second  is  permanent  in  its 
boundaries  and  in  its  Constitution,  which  being  made  by  the 
representatives  of  the  people  cannot  be  altered  by  the  people, 
except  for  very  grave  reasons.  The  people  of  a  Territory 
send  a  Delegate  to  the  General  Congress,  who  however  has  no 
vote  in  the  affairs  of  the  Nation ;  a  State  sends  to  Congress 
two  Senators  and  Representatives  in  number  proportioned  to 
the  number  of  inhabitants ;  all  these  Members  elected  by  a 
State  have  a  voice  in  the  Acts  of  the  General  Government. 
The  laws  made  by  a  Territorial  Council  composed  of  persons 
elected  by  its  people,  are  subject  to  the  authority  of  Congress, 
while  the  Acts  of  a  State  when  they  are  not  in  opposition  to 
the  Constitution  or  to  the  Laws  of  the  General  Government, 
are  entirely  independent  of  Congress,  for  which  reason  the 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    271 

States  are  called  Sovereign.  The  civil  Officials  over  a  Terri- 
tory, as  Governor,  Secretary,  Marshal,  are  chosen  by  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  with  consent  of  the  Senate;  there- 
fore the  Nation  pays  the  expenses  of  a  Territorial  Govern- 
ment, whereas  the  people  of  a  State  elect  their  own  Officials, 
and  the  expenses  of  its  Legislative  body  and  all  its  Officials  are 
paid  from  the  revenues  of  the  State.  Lastly,  there  is  another 
privilege  enjoyed  by  the  people  of  a  State,  that  of  voting  for 
the  President  and  Vice  President  of  the  United  States,  a  privi- 
lege which  the  people  of  a  Territory  do  not  possess. 

To  return  now  to  our  subject,  it  must  be  observed  that  the 
site  whereon  Iowa  City  is  now  built  was  in  June  of  1839  an  un- 
inhabited solitude  covered  with  trees;  but  on  this  very  spot, 
the  following  month  a  city  was  laid  out  with  broad  streets, 
squares,  sites  for  the  Capitol  Building  or  State  House, 
Churches,  Public  Gardens,  etc.  In  December  following  it 
contained  about  a  thousand  inhabitants,  with  hotels.  Post  Of- 
fice, a  line  of  stage-coaches,  dealers  of  every  kind,  workmen, 
houses  of  brick  and  of  stone,  Courts  of  Justice,  also  lawyers, 
doctors,  Protestant  ministers  with  their  Churches,  Schools,  a 
weekly  newspaper,  etc.  All  the  lots  in  the  city  had  been  sold 
at  auction ;  the  money  thus  received  together  with  twenty 
thousand  dollars  granted  by  the  United  States  Government 
served  to  build  the  State  House,  a  structure  whose  dimensions 
are  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  long  by  sixty  wide,  with 
three  stories,  the  whole  built  of  stone.  This  building  situated 
upon  a  beautiful  eminence,  on  one  side  looks  down  upon  the 
Iowa  River,  and  from  the  other  commands  a  view  of  the  Cap- 
ital City ;  it  rises  from  the  centre  of  a  great  square,  it  towers 
above  the  ancient  oaks  surrounding  it,  under  whose  shade  but 
a  few  months  ago,  the  savage  pitched  his  poor  wigwam.  Not- 
withstanding the  goodly  sum  of  nearly  one  hundred  thousand 
dollars  already  expended,  the  building  of  this  State  House  is 
not  yet  complete  in  every  part. 

The  surrounding  country  especially  from  the  Mississippi 
to  the  Iowa  River,  which  was  a  lonely  wilderness  in  1835,  is 
at  present  inhabited  by  many  thousand  settlers,  whose  dwell- 
ings and  cultivated  farms  have  notably  altered  the  face  of 


272    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

nature.  For  many  years  emigration  will  continue  to  stream  into 
these  sections  until  the  forest  lands  are  all  taken  up.  The 
sites  most  advantageous  for  trade,  or  in  the  centre  of  the  lands 
most  sought  after  by  agriculturists  are  selected  to  found  vil- 
lages, which  in  time  grow  into  important  towns,  especially  those 
which  from  their  central  position  in  the  county  are  erected 
into  County  Seats  by  the  Territorial  Government. 

The  Legislature  of  Iowa  in  its  annual  sessions  held  at 
Burlington  from  1838  to  1841  and  afterwards  at  the  Capital 
has  divided  nearly  all  the  tract  of  country  bought  from  the 
different  savage  tribes  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
into  counties  about  twenty-four  miles  square.  This  subdi- 
vision of  the  lands  will  continue  with  emigration,  for  it  is 
indispensable  to  the  executive  power,  to  good  order,  to  civil 
progress  and  to  the  popular  elections.  In  Chapter  XIX  of  this 
Second  Book  of  the  Memoirs,  it  has  been  stated  that  the  part  of 
the  Territory  at  present  settled  and  possessed  by  the  citizens 
of  the  Republic  is  only  the  thirtieth  part  of  that  occupied  by 
the  Indian  Tribes  within  the  limits  of  Iowa. 

We  shall  add,  finally,  that  in  1842  the  majority  of  its  in- 
habitants, for  several  grave  reasons,  refused  to  be  erected 
into  a  State  Government  and  enter  with  all  a  State's  rights 
into  the  American  Union,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  there 
were  a  sufficient  number  of  inhabitants  to  justify  such  a  meas- 
ure. This  important  change  of  public  affairs,  which  cannot  be 
carried  out  without  the  express  consent  of  the  people  of  Iowa 
and  of  the  General  Government,  will  be  effected  before  1846: 
at  that  time,  a  new  Territory  will  be  formed  out  of  the  northern 
part,  in  order  to  erect  the  southern  part  into  a  State  whose 
extent  will  be  inferior  to  no  other  of  the  entire  Union.  For 
the  accomplishment  of  this  purpose,  the  people  elect  several 
delegates  who  frame  a  Constitution  for  the  new  State.  This 
after  being  approved  or  amended  by  Congress  is  remanded  to 
the  general  vote  of  the  people,  and  if  they  by  a  two-thirds 
vote,  accept  the  constitution  drafted  by  their  own  Delegates 
and  approved  by  Congress,  the  Territorial  Government  passes 
to  that  of  a  Sovereign  State  which  becomes  part  of  the  Nation 
and  shares  in  all  its  civil  rights. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV 

BEGINNING  OF  CATHOLIC  WORSHIP  IN  IOWA 
CITY,  1840— ERECTION  OF  A  CHURCH— CAUSE 
OF  A  CONVERSION. 

By  an  Act  of  the  Iowa  Legislature  several  lots  in  its  Cap- 
ital City  were  set  aside  for  Church  purposes,  but  on  condition 
that  those  Religious  bodies  who  desired  to  obtain  them,  should 
raise  thereon  a  Church  building  of  not  less  than  one  thousand 
dollars  in  value.  In  December,  1840,  our  Missionary  hastened 
from  Burlington  to  the  new  Capital  and  giving  over  to  the 
proper  civil  authority  the  required  security  of  two  thousand 
dollars  secured  to  the  cause  of  Catholicity  one  of  the  finest  of 
the  lots  reserved  for  building  Churches.  The  Primitive  Meth- 
odists, the  Methodist  Episcopalians,  the  Presbyterians,  the 
Unitarians  did  the  same  for  their  own  sects. 

The  first  Mass  in  Iowa  City  was  celebrated  on  December 
twentieth,  1840,  in  the  house  of  a  German  mechanic,  not  far 
from  the  State  House  and  the  first  dogmatic  sermon  was 
preached  in  the  Hall  of  a  small  hotel ;  the  following  morning 
the  Holy  Sacrifice  was  celebrated  in  an  unfinished  log  cabin 
of  an  Irish  family  ten  miles  from  the  City.  See  in  how  lowly 
a  manner  did  the  Faith  manifest  itself  the  first  time  in  that 
part  of  the  vast  Territory !  But  the  Bishop's  absence  com- 
pelled the  Priest  to  hasten  to  Dubuque  for  the  solemnity  of  the 
holy  Feast  of  the  Nativity;  thence  to  Galena  in  the  State  of 
Illinois,  from  which  place  he  traveled  again  to  Burlington, 
having  thus  traversed  a  distance  of  four  hundred  miles  all 
alone,  part  of  the  way  over  the  ice  on  the  Mississippi. 

It  will  serve  no  useful  purpose  to  recount  particulars  of 
the  different  Missions  given  throughout  the  country  concern- 
ing the  establishment  of  Catholic  Worship  in  Iowa  City,  there- 

[  273  1 


274    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

fore  we  will  depart  from  the  chronological  order  here,  and 
anticipate  the  memoirs  respecting  them. 

With  the  cordial  approval  of  Monsignor  Loras  the  Priest 
made  the  necessary  preparations  for  building  a  church,  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Assumption  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary, 
for  as  she  is  the  Patroness  of  the  Diocese  it  was  fitting  that  to 
her  should  be  dedicated  the  first  church  of  Iowa's  Capital. 
On  July  12,  1 841,  the  Bishop  laid  the  first  stone  of  the  build- 
ing and  the  Priest  addressed  the  large  gathering  present  on  the 
subject  of  the  Religious  and  even  political  advantages  resulting 
from  the  practice  of  Divine  worship,  and  that  the  truths  of 
the  Gospel  are  the  basis  of  true  liberty  and  true  patriotism. 
A  pile  of  earth  left  by  the  workmen  after  digging  the  founda- 
tion served  as  pulpit  for  the  orator. 

In  the  autumn  of  that  year  the  stone  walls  of  the  basement 
story  had  been  built;  in  the  summer  of  1842  the  brick  walls 
of  the  Church  were  raised  and  the  building  was  in  a  condition 
to  be  used  for  Divine  service  in  the  following  spring.  The 
dimensions  are  sixty  feet  in  length  by  thirty-five  in  breadth. 
It  is  so  constructed  as  to  allow  of  two  small  rooms  in  the 
basement  as  a  lodging  for  the  Priest  and  another  large  one  to 
be  used  as  a  school-room.  So  when  the  increase  in  the 
Catholic  population  will  require  a  more  spacious  church,  the 
present  structure  can  then  be  divided  into  two  stories  and  used 
as  a  school  or  as  a  house  for  a  Religious  Community.  In  the 
existing  state  of  things  poverty  necessitates  keeping  everything 
under  one  roof,  leaving  to  posterity  the  task  of  raising  a  more 
commodious  and  costly  edifice.  To  this  work  of  such  vital 
importance  to  the  cause  of  Religion,  the  Bishop  of  Dubuque 
contributed  three  thousand  two  hundred  dollars  out  of  the 
alms  from  the  Propaganda  Association.  The  Catholics  of 
Iowa  City  and  its  vicinity,  although  poor  and  few  in  number, 
yet  contributed  about  six  hundred  dollars,  partly  in  money, 
partly  in  material,  partly  in  labor.  The  site,  whose  value  is 
one  thousand  six  hundred  dollars,  was  granted  by  the  Terri- 
torial Government  of  Iowa,  as  before  stated. 

To  these  Religious  Memoirs  of  Iowa  City  which  may  one 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    275 

day  be  of  service  in  compiling  the  history  of  Dubuque  Diocese, 
,we  will  add  that  during  the  years  1841  and  1842,  the  Divine 
Mysteries  Were  often  celebrated  in  private  houses,  where  also 
the  Word  of  God  was  preached  and  Confessions  heard  as  well 
in  the  city  as  in  the  homes  of  the  first  settlers  living  near  the 
lands  then  in  possession  of  the  savages  of  the  tribes  of  Sacs 
and  Foxes.  In  a  hall  temporarily  used  as  a  Court  of  Justice, 
many  times  in  the  year  1842,  the  Missionary  held  controversial 
discourses  in  the  presence  of  large  audiences  consisting  of 
sectarians,  in  order  to  dispel  as  far  as  possible,  the  prejudices 
arising  from  a  false  Religious  education. 

Several  converts  to  the  Faith  comforted  the  heart  of  him 
who  was  striving  to  establish  Catholic  worship.  Among  these 
was  the  mother  of  a  family,  who  had  been  baptized  by  total 
immersion  ten  years  before,  according  to  the  practice  of  the 
Baptists.  As  she  had  read  in  her  Bible  that  the  Priests  of  the 
Old  Testament  made  use  of  sacred  symbols  in  their  worship  in 
the  Temple,  she  argued  with  simplicity  and  with  justice  that 
the  Catholic  Religion  conforms  more  closely  with  Holy 
Scripture  than  do  the  sects.  For  they  reject  every  sign  of 
Religion  and  devotion  ordained  by  the  Lord  in  the  Law  of 
Moses,  and  practised  by  the  Saviour  Himself,  while  the  Church 
animated  by  a  spirit  of  holy  fervor  still  manifests  her  living 
adoration  of  the  Divinity  by  means  of  those  holy  venerable 
rites  that  have  accompanied  the  sacrifices  and  prayers  of  the 
Patriarchs,  of  the  Prophets  and  of  all  the  just,  from  the  begin- 
ning of  the  world.  It  were  much  to  be  desired  that  our 
brethren  of  the  Protestant  sects  would  take  pattern  by  this 
good  woman  and  take  heed  of  the  form  of  exterior  worship 
recorded  in  their  Bibles,  remembering  that  the  Messias  came 
not  to  destroy  but  to  fulfill,  to  make  perfect  the  adoration  of 
the  Divinity,  to  Whom  we  ought  to  consecrate  our  soul's  affec- 
tions which  are  inseparable  from  exterior  worship,  remember- 
ing the  words  of  Saint  Paul:  "I  beseech  you,  therefore, 
brethren,  by  the  mercy  of  God,  that  you  present  your  bodies 
a  living  sacrifice,  holy,  pleasing  unto  God,  your  reasonable 
service."     (Romans,  XII,  1). 


276    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

In  1842,  Reverend  Antony  Pelamourgues,  often  visited 
the  Catholics  of  Iowa  City,  about  sixty  miles  from  his  sta- 
tion at  Davenport.  In  the  Mission  of  this  Capital  City  of 
Iowa  may  be  counted  five  hundred  Catholics,  principally  Ger- 
mans, who  continue  to  immigrate  to  this  part  of  the  county. 
Within  a  few  years,  these  settlers  together  with  the  Irish 
settlers  and  the  converts  will  form  a  large  parish,  and  one  of 
some  importance  also,  in  the  matter  of  the  influence  exerted 
by  any  city  wherein  reside  the  members  of  the  Legislature, 
the  Governor  and  State  Officials. 

At  the  public  sale  of  lands  lying  near  Iowa  City,  held  at 
Dubuque  in  March,  1843,  at  trie  suggestion  of  his  Vicar,  the 
Bishop  purchased  eighty  acres  in  the  suburbs,  paying  to  the 
Government  one  dollar  and  a  quarter  an  acre.  This  tract  is 
to  be  used  as  a  Catholic  cemetery,  as  also  to  furnish  fuel  for 
the  Church  and  the  Pastor. 


CHAPTER  XXXV 

CHURCH  OF  SAINT  MATTHEW  AT  SHULLSBURG 
IN     WISCONSIN— NOTES     ON     THE     LEAD 

MINES. 

From  what  has  been  stated,  the  reader  may  see  that  the 
Missionary  was  often  absent  from  Galena  in  Illinois,  which 
was  his  principal  station ;  but  this  large  and  important  parish 
was  not  only  attended  by  the  Assistant  Priest,  Rev.  Remigius 
Petiot,  resident  there,  but  was  also  visited  very  often  by  the 
Missionary,  since  it  was  situated  on  his  road  from  Iowa  to 
Wisconsin  Territory.  From  1835  to  1841,  in  that  part  of  Wis- 
consin just  above  the  northern  boundary  line  of  Illinois,  the 
Priest  was  accustomed  to  officiate  in  the  houses  of  the  settlers, 
who  worked  in  the  Lead  Mines;  therefore  it  was  decided  to 
build  a  frame  Church  that  year  in  a  place  called  Shullsburg  and 
Gratiot  Survey,  eighteen  miles  from  Galena. 

As  the  structure  was  to  be  of  wood  throughout,  according 
to  that  described  in  Chapter  X  of  Book  I  of  these  Memoirs,  all 
the  parts  composing  the  building  were  prepared  and  wrought 
out  by  skillful  carpenters  in  Galena.  As  soon  as  these  materials 
had  been  transported  to  Shullsburg,  the  workmen  put  the 
whole  together  in  six  days  and  formed  a  beautiful  little  church, 
thirty-five  by  twenty-five  feet  in  dimensions,  serving  very  well 
the  needs  of  Catholic  worship,  and  presenting  a  certain 
symmetry  in  appearance  that  makes  it  an  ornament  mid  the 
poor  dwellings  of  the  miners.  The  chapel  is  consecrated  to 
the  Apostle  Saint  Matthew,  and  at  present  costs  one  thousand 
dollars,  almost  entirely  the  voluntary  offering  of  the  incom- 
parable generosity  of  the  Irish.  A  Priest  celebrates  Mass 
there  and  administers  the  Sacraments  once  a  month,  for  the 

(2771 


278    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

spiritual  welfare  of  three  hundred  or  more  Catholics  scattered 
throughout  the  vicinity,  within  a  range  of  eight  or  ten  miles. 

This  part  of  Wisconsin  Territory  is  extremely  rich  in  Lead 
Mines ;  thousands  of  men  in  every  direction  are  carrying  on 
extensive  excavations  under  ground  in  search  of  the  precious 
mineral.  It  often  happens  that  after  many  months  of  hard 
labor,  boring  through  the  limestone  strata,  they  find  their  time 
and  money  entirely  thrown  away.  But  Providence  permits 
that  horizontal  fissures  are  often  discovered  between  the  strata 
wherein  Nature,  as  in  a  vast  store-house,  holds  the  lead  in 
large  masses  interspersed  with  clay.  Many  of  these  veins 
are  found  at  a  great  depth  under  ground,  under  water,  and 
while  these  are  usually  rich  in  mineral,  the  labor  becomes  so 
difficult  and  expensive  that  the  miner  is  often  forced  to 
abandon  them.  The  lands  containing  these  mines  are  for  the 
most  part  still  in  possession  of  the  general  Government,  but 
this  fact  does  not  prevent  excavations  being  carried  on,  and 
all  the  lead  extracted  becoming  the  property  of  the  discoverer. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI 

FIRST  ESTABLISHMENT  OF  CATHOLIC  WORSHIP 
AT  BLOOMINGTON  IN  IOWA  TERRITORY. 

The  town  of  Bloomington,  situated  upon  the  western  bank 
of  the  Mississippi  between  Davenport  and  Burlington,  almost 
equal  to  these  in  size,  in  January,  1841,  with  a  population  of 
about  eight  hundred  persons,  had  only  ten  Catholics.  On  the 
twenty-fifth  of  the  same  month  the  first  Mass  was  celebrated 
in  the  house  of  a  Catholic  woman  whose  husband  was 
Protestant.  There  were  eight  Communicants  at  this  Mass. 
The  Missionary  considered  that  he  would  fulfill  the  most 
important  part  of  his  ministry  towards  those  outside  of  the 
Church,  by  preaching  in  a  large  hall  used  as  a  schoolhouse  by 
the  village,  and  where  all  the  ministers  of  the  different  sects 
were  accustomed  to  preach  their  doctrines. 

One  who  has  been  trained  in  the  errors  and  almost 
incredible  prejudices  of  Protestantism  is  inclined  to  laugh  at 
that  exterior  garb  in  which  the  Catholic  Priest  presents  him- 
self before  an  audience  to  teach  the  Gospel  truths.  This  was 
the  case  with  a  few  of  his  Protestant  hearers  in  Bloomington. 
The  cassock,  the  surplice  and  the  stole  seem  useless  or  absurd 
novelties  to  those  who,  familiar  with  ministers,  see  them  con- 
tinually preaching  the  Bible  in  their  secular  garb,  which  they 
use  on  all  religious  occasions.  An  explanation  of  the  reason 
and  Religious  signification  of  the  Priestly  vestments  served 
wonderfully  to  win  respect  and  reverence  for  that  Church 
which  covers  the  frail  humanity  of  the  Priest  with  the  Mantle 
of  her  Apostolic  Mission  and  with  the  emblems  of  her  celestial 
virtues  or  better  with  those  of  her  Divine  Spouse,  humili- 
ated and  suffering  on  earth.  The  holy  Sign  of  the  Cross 
which  must  be  called  the  Standard  of  Redemption  upon  the 

[279] 


280    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

brow  of  the  Catholic,  is  regarded  with  contempt  by  nearly  all 
the  Protestants  of  the  United  States;  and  for  this  reason  the 
Priest  often  has  occasion  to  cite  that  saying  of  the  Apostle : 
"We  preach  Christ  Crucified ;  unto  the  Jews  indeed  a 
stumbling-block,  and  unto  the  Gentiles,  foolishness."  (I  Cor. 
I,  23).  An  earnest  and  feeling  instruction  upon  the  practice 
of  making  the  Sign  of  the  Cross  always  proved  a  great 
assistance  to  the  cause  of  the  Faith. 

Several  times  in  the  years  1841  and  1842,  the  Missionary 
preached  in  the  town  of  Bloomington ;  with  the  full  liberty  of 
speech  enjoyed  in  that  section  he  undertook  to  defend  publicly 
the  truth  of  Catholic  dogma  against  the  errors  of  the  religious 
sects.  At  that  time  the  Mercy  of  God  called  to  the  bosom 
of  His  Church,  the  husband  of  that  good  woman  in  whose 
home  the  Divine  Mysteries  had  been  celebrated  for  the  first 
time ;  he  died  a  few  months  after  his  Baptism  with  sentiments 
of  the  most  tender  piety. 

The  zeal  of  the  Bishop  of  Dubuque  led  him  to  purchase  a 
tract  of  land  in  the  centre  of  this  flourishing  town  and,  in 
1842,  to  build  there  a  wooden  Chapel,  dedicated  to  the  Apostle 
Saint  Mathias.  This,  although  the  smallest  in  the  Diocese,  is 
well  finished  and  answers  perfectly  the  present  needs  of  the 
few  faithful  there;  it  also  offers  a  home  to  the  Priest  when  he 
visits  that  town.  At  the  same  time,  a  little  Church  precisely 
like  that  at  Bloomington  was  built  in  the  village  of  Bellevue, 
upon  the  western  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  thirty  miles  from 
Dubuque.  This  little  Church  was  dedicated  to  the  Apostle 
Saint  Andrew.  This  Mission  is  under  the  charge  of  the 
devoted  Priest,  Reverend  John  Perrodin,  who,  as  stated  in 
Chapter  XXVIII  makes  his  principal  abode  in  the  Parish  of 
Saint  Patrick's.  We  have  judged  it  well  to  give  an  account 
of  these  Churches  in  order  to  preserve  to  posterity  the  mem- 
ory of  them,  for  there  is  reason  to  hope  that  in  the  brief 
course  of  half  a  century  when  these  new  villages  shall  have 
been  transformed  into  populous  cities,  our  holy  Religion  will 
there  have  its  splendid  Temples  where  the  praises  of  God  will 
be  daily  sung.     Now,  however,  the  poor,  wandering  Mission- 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    281 

ary  celebrates  there  a  few  times  in  the  year  and  under  the 
roof  of  the  poor  Chapel  itself  takes  his  sweet  repose ;  he  is  in 
truth,  without  a  country,  without  a  home,  without  the  ordinary 
necessaries  of  life,  but  he  is  not  without  a  well-grounded  hope 
of  soon  enjoying  the  riches  of  Paradise,  his  own  country  that 
he  sighs  for,  and  he  can  say  with  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles : 
"We  have  not  here  a  lasting  city,  but  we  seek  one  that  is  to 
come."     (Heb.  XIII,  14). 


CHAPTER  XXXVII 

THE  TEMPERANCE  SOCIETY— ITS  SALUTARY  EF- 
FECTS UPON  THE  CAUSE  OF  CATHOLICITY 
IN  AMERICA. 

Very  few  persons  in  the  United  States  cultivate  the  vine 
or  make  wine  to  any  extent,  so  this  beverage  forms  one  of  the 
objects  of  commerce  with  France,  Spain  and  Italy,  while  the 
distance,  imposition  of  duties,  etc.,  render  it  not  only  costly, 
but  also  very  scarce.  But  to  supply  the  lack  of  the  vine  in 
America,  extensive  use  is  made  of  strong  spirits  extracted  from 
Indian  corn,  which  grows  there  in  prodigious  quantities  and 
can  be  had  at  a  very  low  price.  Many  of  the  people  are  ad- 
dicted to  the  abuse  of  this  strong  liquor  to  such  a  degree  as  to 
fall  unhappy  victims  of  intoxication. 

A  great  number  of  the  emigrants  from  Ireland,  notwith- 
standing the  Faith,  the  generosity,  the  honesty,  the  industry 
and  all  the  other  virtues  that  so  eminently  distinguish  the  race, 
were  often  too  weak  upon  this  one  point,  giving  themselves  up 
in  bondage  to  the  vice  of  intemperance.  The  more  zealous 
among  the  Protestants,  especially  the  Presbyterians,  took  occa- 
sion from  this  to  hurl  bitterest  reproaches  and  invectives 
against  the  Catholic  Church,  which  they  accused  of  being  far 
from  the  Evangelical  sanctity  she  professed,  while  she  held 
within  her  own  bosom  so  many  leading  scandalous  lives.  But 
God  who  often  makes  use  of  His  very  enemies  as  instruments 
to  carry  out  the  inscrutable  designs  of  His  grace,  raised  up 
our  far-famed  Father  Matthew  in  Ireland  to  banish  the  demon 
of  drunkenness  from  that  island,  and  to  enroll  millions  of  his 
compatriots  in  the  Temperance  Societies  by  virtue  of  which 
they  pledged  themselves  to  taste  no  beverage  that  could  in- 
toxicate. 

[282] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    283 

The  Irish  who  comprise  more  than  half  of  the  Catholics 
of  the  United  States,  followed  the  example  of  their  brethren 
in  Europe,  and  Temperance  Societies  were  founded  in  every 
city  and  village  of  the  land.  It  could  be  asserted  now  that 
these  children  of  that  Saint  Patrick  to  whom  Ireland  owes  her 
conversion  to  the  Faith  are  now  with  very  few  exceptions 
models  of  temperance.  The  Catholic  Clergy  exerted  them- 
selves to  the  utmost  in  America,  to  bring  about  a  change  so 
marvelous  and  so  necessary  to  the  advancement  of  the  Faith ; 
the  Faith  that  had  retrograded  among  many  Catholics  through 
the  vice  of  intemperance.  A  number  of  the  Bishops  and 
nearly  all  of  the  Priests  are  zealous  members  of  this  Society. 

It  must  be  stated  here  that  the  sects,  the  Presbyterians  in 
particular,  had  Temperance  Societies  among  their  followers, 
but  when  the  Catholics  established  their  own  societies  the 
promise  not  to  use  intoxicating  liquors  took  on  a  certain  sacred- 
ness,  because  in  many  Congregations  it  was  made  in  church, 
in  presence  of  the  Priest.  The  motives,  then,  which  induced 
Catholics  to  inscribe  their  names  in  the  Society  proceeded 
from  an  earnest  desire  to  improve  their  own  ways  of  life  and 
those  of  their  brethren  by  means  of  good  example,  and  in  this 
way  to  remove  that  occasion  of  scandal  which  rendered  fruit- 
less so  many  of  the  discussions  made  in  defence  of  the  truths 
contradicted  by  Protestants. 

If  the  tree  is  to  be  judged  by  its  fruits,  there  is  no  doubt 
as  to  the  Religious  influence  exerted  by  the  Temperance  So- 
ciety,— in  truth  we  must  ascribe  thereto  these  wonderful  ef- 
fects, the.  conversion  of  a  great  number  of  sinners  hardened  in 
vice  for  years,  who  approached  the  tribunal  of  penance  only 
after  they  had  promised  to  give  up  entirely  the  use  of  intoxi- 
cating liquors.  From  the  year  1839  when  the  Societies  had 
become  established  in  the  various  Missions  recorded  in  these 
Memoirs,  piety  actually  made  visible  progress  from  day  to  day, 
in  proportion  as  the  virtue  of  Temperance  won  its  blessed 
victories  among  the  people;  peace  and  plenty  reigned  in  the 
families,  Catholicity  won  the  respect  and  reverence  of  its  very 
enemies,  and  the  Faith  spread  among  the  more  sincere  of  those 


284    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

outside  the  Church.  Many  of  the  Catholic  Irish  abandoned 
entirely  the  dangerous  traffic  in  intoxicating  drink  and  sought 
more  honorable  means  of  subsistence. 

The  obligations  contracted  by  the  members  of  the  Tem- 
perance Society  consist  of  a  perfect  and  entire  abstinence  from 
the  use  of  liquors  capable  of  producing  intoxication,  not  ex- 
cepting wine,  beer  and  such  beverages ;  in  case  of  sickness, 
however,  they  can  be  dispensed  by  their  physician.  Such  rigor- 
ous observance  was  judged  necessary  for  the  removal  of  all 
proximate  occasions  of  intemperance.  Some  bound  them- 
selves to  observe  this  abstinence  for  their  lifetime;  others 
limited  the  promise  to  a  certain  number  of  years.  Many  of 
the  Protestants  preferred  to  join  the  Catholic  Society  rather 
than  those  of  their  own  Churches,  on  account  of  the  greater 
reverence  shown  by  the  people  and  the  much  higher  degree 
of  influence,  to  which  the  virtue  of  Temperance  raised  many 
Irish  citizens. 

The  members  of  the  Society  receive  a  certificate,  of  which 
we  shall  give  the  formula,  a  beautiful  composition  drawn 
almost  entirely  from  Holy  Scripture. 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    285 


Catholic  Total  Abstinence  Society 

IN  IOWA,  ILLINOIS  AND  WISCONSIN 

"IN  THIS  SIGN  THOU  SHALT  CONQUER" 


It  is   good  not  to  eat  flesh   and   not  to  drink  wine,  nor  any  thing  whereby  thy 
brother  is  offended,  or  scandalized  or  made    weak.       (Rom.    XIV,    21.) 


Look  not  upon  the  wine  when  it 
shineth  in  the  glass:  it  goeth  in  pleas- 
antly. But  in  the  end,  it  will  bite  like 
a  snake  and  will  spread  abroad  poison 
like  a  basilisk.  (Prov.  XXIII,  31, 
32.) 


Be  not  in  the  feasts  of  great  drink- 
ers who  club  together  for  feasting,  for 
these,  sleepers  as  they  are,  shall  be  re- 
duced to  rags.     (Prov.  XXIII,  20,  21.) 


Woe  to  you  that  are 
mighty  to  drink  wine, 
and  stout  men  at 
drunkenness.  (Isaias  V, 
22.) 


PROMISE 


I,  N.  N., 


Woe  to  him  that 
giveth  drink  to  his 
friend,  and  maketh  him 
drunk.  Thou  art  filled 
with  shame  instead  of 
glory.  (Hab.  II,  15, 
16.) 


promise  to  abstain 

from  any  intoxicating  drink, 

unless  used  medicinally 

and  by 

order 

of  a 


The  Fruits  of 
Temperance 


The 


Holy    Fear    of 

God, 

Plenty   in    Households, 

Peace, 

Health    of    Body, 

Good    Name, 

The    Grace    of    God, 

Eternal  Life. 


physi 
cian 


t 


Effects  of 
Intemperance 


The     Loss    of    God, 

Poverty   and   Shame, 

Discord     in     Families, 

Sickness, 

Disgrace, 

Final  Impenitence, 

Eternal    Death. 


Mr.  N.  N.  has  taken  the  Pledge  for years,    on    the    day 

of  the  month  of in  the  y  ear  18.... 

REVEREND  N.  N. 
No President   of   the  Society  in  the  city  of   


CHAPTER  XXXVIII 

THE  BIBLE,  THE  PROTESTANT  REFORMATION  OF 
THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY,  AND  THE 
APOSTOLIC  MISSION— SUBJECTS  OF  MANY 
DISCOURSES  IN  DEFENCE  OF  THE  CATHOLIC 
FAITH,  ASSAILED  BY  THE  PROTESTANT 
MINISTERS  OF  GALENA. 

The  progress  of  Catholicity  since  1839  is  in  great  measure 
due  to  the  number  and  exemplary  lives  of  the  different  Mis- 
sionaries, and  to  the  establishment  of  churches  where  Divine 
Worship  could  be  carried  on  in  the  chief  centres.  This  very 
progress,  however,  gave  occasion  to  several  of  the  sectarian 
ministers  to  resort  to  their  usual  invectives,  calumnies  and 
false  accusations  against  the  Holy  Church.  Galena,  in  the 
State  of  Illinois,  wielded  considerable  influence  both  religious 
and  political  on  account  of  its  trade  and  its  importance  as 
the  County  Seat.  In  this  town,  where  six  different  Religious 
sects  were  established,  a  minister  of  the  Anglican  Church 
signalized  himself  beyond  his  compeers  by  declaiming  more 
constantly  and  more  violently  against  the  Faith.  It  may  be 
of  interest  to  some,  therefore,  to  make  mention  of  the  prin- 
cipal subjects,  forming  the  themes  of  many  discussions  held 
by  the  Missionary  in  his  own  church,  in  1840,  1841  and  1842; 
these  were  always  attended  by  a  great  number  of  non- 
Catholics. 

Beside  defending  the  principal  dogmas  of  the  Faith,  as 
formerly  stated,  a  simple  exposition  of  the  causes  or  chief 
sources  of  this  ignorance  regarding  true  Catholic  doctrine,  was 
always  wonderfully  effective  in  dissipating  many  false  im- 
pressions given  by  the  ministers.  It  is  to  the  absurd  harangues 
of  these,  to  the  abuse  of  printed  tracts  and  to  the  prejudices 

[286] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    287 

of  a  sectarian  training,  must  mainly  be  attributed  the  most 
erroneous  of  the  wrong  ideas  of  Protestants  on  this  point,  and 
their  indifference  in  seeking  after  truth. 

As  the  entire  fabric  of  the  Protestant  system  rests  upon 
understanding  the  Holy  Scriptures  by  the  private  interpreta- 
tion of  the  individual  who  takes  the  Bible  alone  for  his  guide, 
independent  entirely  of  any  Ecclesiastical  authority  whatso- 
ever, it  became  necessary  to  prove,  that  unless  one  supposes  an 
infallible  authority,  the  divinity  of  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible 
becomes  uncertain  before  the  tribunal  of  private  reason.  A 
subject  of  such  importance  compelled  the  Priest  in  the  con- 
troversy to  a  series  of  discourses  wherein  he  took  the  position 
of  a  questioner  desiring  to  be  convinced  of  the  Divine  origin 
of  Holy  Writ  through  reason  alone.  By  this  help,  he  was 
bound  to  investigate  the  origin  and  the  particular  meaning  of 
each  Book  in  the  Bible,  the  authenticity  of  the  very  first  manu- 
script, and  the  slightest  changes  therein,  a  task  hardly  reas- 
suring to  him  who  does  not  admit  of  an  infallible  authority 
guarding  the  Sacred  Books.  The  various  translations  into 
modern  languages  only  present  new  difficulties  in  understand- 
ing the  Divine  Word,  to  the  unaided  reason  of  the  Protestant. 
From  the  many  mysterious  obscurities  in  which  Divine  Revela- 
tion lies  hidden,  the  speaker  argued  the  impossibility  for  an 
individual  to  penetrate  the  designs  of  God  and  therefore  to 
know  the  dogmatic  and  moral  truths  necessary  to  salvation. 

The  ignorance,  the  passions  and  the  circumstances  of  the 
daily  life  of  nine-tenths  of  the  human  race,  the  number  of  sects, 
the  contradictions,  the  hatreds,  the  disputes,  the  quarrels  which 
divide  them,  and  many  other  circumstances,  offered  the  Priest 
an  inexhaustible  source  whence  to  show  the  absurdity  of  the 
teaching  of  the  Reformers  on  the  use  which  they  make  of  the 
Bible,  whose  authority  and  true  meaning  is  not  found  in  rea- 
son, but  only  in  the  unchanging  tradition  of  the  Catholic 
Church. 

Few  sectarians  are  acquainted  with  the  history  of  the  Ref- 
ormation of  the  sixteenth  century  from  which  their  false  sys- 
tems emanated.     The  utility  of  this  subject  is  equal  to  its 


288    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

vastness.  In  this  field  of  history,  the  Missionary  found  most 
useful  matter  for  many  discourses  upon  the  true  origin  of 
Protestantism  and  its  chief  promoters  in  Germany  and  in 
England.  Luther,  Melancthon,  Bucer,  Carlstadt,  Munzer, 
Storck,  Calvin,  Beza,  Zwingli,  Aecolampadius,  Socinus,  Henry 
VIII  of  England,  Cranmer,  the  Duke  of  Somerset,  Edward 
VI,  Elizabeth  of  England,  Parker,  Knox,  Wesley  and  many 
other  personages  famous  in  the  history  of  religious  novelties, 
were  characters  often  brought  forward  in  order  to  explain  the 
course  of  that  great  revolution  that  convulsed  the  half  of 
Europe.  In  these  controversial  discourses,  it  became  neces- 
sary to  speak  also  of  the  self-interest,  the  licentiousness,  the 
ambition,  the  irreligion,  the  hatred,  the  ignorance,  all  that  under 
the  mantle  of  zeal  for  evangelical  truth  were  really  the  hidden 
motives  of  the  religious  upheaval  in  the  days  of  the  Reforma- 
tion. The  sacking  of  the  Religious  houses,  of  hospitals,  and 
colleges,  the  fanatical  demolition  of  so  many  precious  monu- 
ments of  antiquity,  and  destruction  of  so  many  manuscripts, 
the  tyranny,  intolerance,  the  depraved  customs  introduced,  the 
bloody  wars  and  other  excesses  in  which  the  history  of  the 
sixteenth  century  abounds,  furnished  the  speaker  ample  proofs 
to  disclose  the  origin  and  true  character  of  the  new  religious 
creeds. 

Added  proofs  were  found  in  the  record  of  the  irreconcil- 
able dogmatic  wars  among  the  leaders  of  the  Reformation ; 
their  mutual  excommunications,  their  pretended  revelations, 
their  false  prophecies,  the  extravagances  of  many  of  the  fanat- 
ics making  their  appearance  upon  the  theatre  of  the  new  creeds, 
all  based  as  they  pretended,  upon  the  sacred  words  of  the  Bible. 
The  American  Republic  also  offers  grave  arguments  against 
these  religionaries,  for  these,  availing  themselves  of  their  polit- 
ical freedom,  were  not  content  to  simply  change  the  doctrine  of 
the  European  sects ;  but  they  even  created  so  many  new,  absurd 
systems  of  religion,  as  to  force  many  to  despise  all  religions 
and  live  in  complete  indifference.  All  this  set  face  to  face  with 
the  grand  unity  of  dogmas,  of  worship  and  of  the  divinely  or- 
dained Catholic  Hierarchy,  could  not  but  lower  Protestantism 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    289 

in  the  estimation  of  the  hearers  and  exalt  that  Church  against 
which  so  many  of  her  children  rebelled  in  this  unhappy  six- 
teenth century. 

Another  important  subject  of  controversy  furnished  the 
Priest  themes  for  several  discourses;  this  was  the  Apostolic 
Mission  of  which  Protestants  are  deprived.  The  indifference 
of  most  of  the  sectarians  in  the  United  States  as  well  as  in 
Europe  leaves  them  in  deepest  darkness  upon  this  point, — a 
point  which  alone  can  show  us  with  absolute  certainty  the  true 
religion  of  Jesus  Christ.  To  bring  conviction  to  the  minds  of 
his  hearers,  he  argued  from  both  the  Old  Law  and  the  New, 
the  absolute  necessity  of  a  Divine  Mission  to  him  who  calls 
himself  a  minister  of  the  Gospel ;  then  he  set  forth  from  the 
sacred  pages  the  anathemas  fulminated  against  the  false 
prophets  and  teachers  who  preach  without  divine  authority,  and 
for  which  they  are  called  thieves  and  murderers  by  the  Saviour 
Himself.  The  speaker  investigated  the  Mission  of  the  Re- 
formers, showed  their  inconsistent  pretenses  to  the  extraordi- 
nary prophetic  mission  claimed  by  Luther  and  the  Anabap- 
tists and  that  these,  unable  to  maintain  their  claim,  drove  the 
other  heretics  to  imagine  an  invisible  Church  prior  to  the 
Reformation, — and  from  this  invisible  Church  they  affirmed 
that  they  had  received  an  ordinary  mission  to  preach  the  Gos- 
pel. The  absurdity  of  this  subterfuge  of  Calvin's  was  so  glar- 
ing as  to  force  his  disciple  Beza  and  many  others  to  seek  in  a 
connection  with  the  Albigensian  and  Waldensian  sects  of  the 
twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  a  proof  of  the  divinity  of 
their  own  ministry.  The  Anglican  Church,  however,  hold- 
ing the  ministry  of  all  continental  Protestants  as  a  sacrilegious 
usurpation,  were  claiming  the  Apostolic  Mission  of  their 
Bishops  and  Priests  through  Holy  Orders  which  they  pre- 
tended to  have  received  from  the  Catholic  Church.  In  the 
midst  of  the  confusion  other  systems  sprang  up  to  prove  the 
authority  of  the  heterodox  ministers,  for  these  desired  that 
the  people  themselves,  that  is  the  laity,  might  be  able  to  grant 
the  faculty  of  preaching  the  Gospel,  while  yet  other  Prot- 
estants were  asserting  that  the  right  of  conferring  Ordination 


290    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

belongs  solely  to  the  ministers  of  their  own  churches,  yet 
without  examining  whether  or  not  these  were  true  or  false. 

So  many  varieties  and  contradictions  in  the  religions  of  the 
Reformers,  for  the  purpose  of  proving  that  their  preachers 
have  that  mission  from  the  Messiah,  according  to  the  words : 
"as  the  Father  sent  me,  I  also  send  you"  (Saint  John  XX,  21)  ; 
and  for  the  purpose  of  answering  the  question  of  Saint  Paul : 
"How  shall  they  preach  unless  they  be  sent?"  led  the  mass  of 
modern  religionaries  into  the  foolish  belief  that  those  are  the 
true  ministers  of  Jesus  Christ  who  declare  that  they  are  in- 
teriorly called  to  preach  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  Thus,  by  reject- 
ing ecclesiastical  order  and  the  Hierarchy,  the  majority  of 
Protestants  in  the  United  States,  in  the  western  sections  es- 
pecially, have  given  themselves  up  to  all  the  errors  taught  by 
a  multitude  of  fanatics,  who  have  the  audacity  to  declare 
themselves  commissioned  by  the  Holy  Spirit  to  preach  the 
Word  of  God. 

A  clear,  strong,  impartial  series  of  arguments  upon  these 
subjects,  as  given  above,  accompanied  by  the  defence  of  the 
Catholic  doctrine  upon  the  same,  although  it  required  a  series 
of  discourses,  preached  on  many  occasions,  yet  was  of  im- 
mense service  in  confirming  Catholics  in  the  Faith  and  silenc- 
ing the  opponents  of  the  Faith.  God  made  use  of  these  words 
to  call  to  the  observance  of  Christian  duties  many  souls  who 
had  become  cold  and  almost  indifferent  to  Truth;  moreover 
other  souls  left  the  path  of  error  to  find  the  unity  of  the 
Faith.* 

*  The  compiler  of  the  Memoirs  would  have  wished  to  give  a  more 
detailed  account  of  the  controversial  discussions ;  but  to  present  clearly 
the  arguments  of  Protestants  against  the  Faith  and  then  give  a  satis- 
factory reply,  would  necessitate  a  very  long  digression  entirely  foreign 
to  his  subject.  One  who  is  familiar  with  controversy  sees  at  once  that 
confuting  their  arguments  upon  one  sole  point  of  doctrine  requires  a 
treatise,  and  this,  if  not  preceded  by  certain  preliminary  theological 
truths,  can  be  well  comprehended  by  a  few  readers  only.  If  circum- 
stances permitted,  the  writer  had  intended  to  publish  a  controversial 
work  embracing  those  Catholic  dogmas  which  are  most  opposed  by 
Protestants ;   citations   from   Holy   Writ,   and   arguments   drawn   from 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    291 

reason,  set  forth  in  a  familiar  style  and  accompanied  by  practical  re- 
flections suggested  by  the  truths  of  Faith,  would  present  the  doctrines 
of  the  Church  under  an  aspect  more  interesting  and  more  attractive 
even  to  the  eye  of  those  not  accustomed  to  reasoning  upon  such 
subj  ects. 


CHAPTER  XXXIX 

CONVERSION  OF  A  YOUNG  PROTESTANT  TO  THE 
CHURCH  IN  1842. 

The  conversion  of  certain  Protestants  to  the  Catholic 
Church  was  accompanied  by  circumstances  which  may  serve 
to  the  edification  of  others.  For  this  reason  we  will  give  a 
brief  account  here  of  the  means  through  which  Divine  Good- 
ness called  a  non-Catholic  to  the  light  of  Faith. 

A  young  merchant  who  had  settled  for  many  years  in 
the  city  of  Galena  had  been  attending  the  Anglican 
Church  to  which  he  and  his  associates  belonged.  His 
minister's  reiterated  invectives  against  the  Catholic  Faith 
could  in  no  way  impress  his  heart,  too  honest  to  be 
led  astray  by  false  reasonings,  by  bare  assertions,  and 
by  the  pretended  wisdom  of  the  self-styled  prophet. 
Sunday  after  Sunday  had  the  Anglican  preacher  wearied 
and  disgusted  his  hearers,  by  his  continual  discoursing 
upon  Antichrist,  and  as  if  he  were  akin  to  that  spirit  of  lies 
and  blasphemy,  had  often  displayed  his  eloquence  by  describ- 
ing the  powers  infernal,  and  pretending  that  this  enemy  of 
Jesus  Christ  was  the  Pope  and  the  Catholic  Religion.  But 
what  availed  these  declamations?  What  availed  this  mania 
to  make  people  believe  that  he  comprehended  the  mysterious 
meaning  of  the  Apocalypse?  In  a  country  where  error  has 
full  liberty  to  discharge  its  venom  in  public,  it  becomes  so 
frantic  and  so  blind  as  to  reveal  its  full  deformity,  and  in- 
stead of  convincing  succeeds  only  in  repelling.  This  is  a  great 
truth  founded  upon  experience !  The  preaching  of  the  angry 
minister  roused  in  his  hearers  the  determination  to  listen  to 
the  controversies  then  taking  place  in  the  Catholic  Church,  so 
vilified  and  attacked  by  him. 

[292I 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    293 

Among  the  sincere  sectarians  was  the  young  man  just 
mentioned.  Endowed  with  keen  intelligence  as  he  was,  he 
began  to  read  controversial  works,  to  attend  Catholic  wor- 
ship, and  to  implore  the  light  needed  from  the  Giver  of  all 
grace.  Several  months  were  spent  in  these  preparatory 
studies,  without  any  tendency  to  those  sudden  impulses  and 
hasty  decisions  which  are  too  often  unhappily  followed  by 
tepidity  and  indifference.  He  was  not  content  with  examin- 
ing by  himself  into  those  dogmatic  doctrines  which  distinguish 
the  Protestant  from  the  Catholic,  but  he  held  many  familiar 
conferences  with  the  same  rabid  Anglican  minister  himself, 
in  order  to  convince  the  latter  of  his  own  sincerity  in  the 
search  for  the  truth,  before  bidding  farewell  to  his  former 
belief.  Heavenly  grace  had  already  met  a  powerful  ally  in 
the  zeal  with  which  the  young  soul  sought  for  the  spotless 
Bride  of  Christ,  and  so  more  strongly  did  it  urge  him  day  by 
day  to  present  himself  to  the  Priest  for  Baptism.  And  at 
last  he  prepared  his  soul  for  this  by  the  observance  of  the 
Lenten  Fast. 

On  the  holy  day  of  the  Resurrection  of  our  Lord  and 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  the  neophyte  knelt  at  the  sanctuary  rail, 
that  he  might  also  rise  again  in  the  Sacrament  of  Regenera- 
tion to  that  life  of  Faith  which  the  Christian  lives.  As  on 
such  occasions  there  is  always  a  throng  of  persons  present 
and  among  them  not  a  few  Protestants,  the  Priest  usually  be- 
gins with  an  instruction  upon  the  necessity  of  Baptism,  and 
the  meaning  of  the  ceremonies  thereof,  and  with  an  earnest 
exhortation  for  the  purpose  of  rousing  Faith  in  every  revealed 
Truth,  as  well  as  sincere  contrition  for  all  the  sins  of  one's 
life.  The  devout,  humble  and  penitent  demeanor  of  the  youth 
bore  witness  to  that  inner  Light  shining  from  the  holy  Truths 
of  Religion  and  illumining  his  whole  being,  and  bore  witness 
also  to  that  sincere  sorrow  for  sins  that  flooded  his  eyes  with 
tears  and  mingled  them  with  the  Baptismal  Waters  and 
cleansed  his  soul  from  every  stain.  As  a  child  of  the  True 
Church,  the  youth  persevered  in  the  practice  of  virtue  and  in 


294    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

the  holy  fervor  that  characterizes  converts  in  the  United 
States. 

Should  any  reader  be  tempted  to  suspect  that  these  con- 
versions are  at  least  in  part  brought  about  by  lack  of  mental 
power,  or  through  motives  of  self-interest,  by  the  influence 
of  parents  and  friends  or  by  any  human  motive  whatever,  it 
is  only  a  matter  of  justice  to  state  that  the  conversion  of  this 
young  man  in  question  as  well  as  of  many  others,  was  con- 
summated only  after  long  continued  study  and  research,  with- 
out one  shade  of  earthly  profit,  and  in  direct  opposition  to  his 
parents  who  were  zealous  Protestants.  Moreover  his  famil- 
iar intercourse  and  frequent  colloquies  with  the  Anglican  min- 
ister, who  was  openly  hostile  to  Catholicity,  is  a  fact  strongly 
supporting  the  assertion  that  he  abandoned  the  doctrine  of  the 
Reformers  because  convinced  that  it  did  not  possess  the  Truth 
of  the  Gospel. 

For  the  sake  of  living  in  peace  in  their  various  sects,  many 
non-Catholics  persuade  themselves  that  they  are  obliged  to 
live  in  the  religious  belief  in  which  they  were  born.  But  this 
is  a  false  doctrine,  equally  applicable  to  pagans  and  Turks, 
but  so  far  from  serving  as  an  excuse  for  these  persons,  it 
actually  condemns  the  very  first  arch-heretics  themselves,  who 
educated  in  the  true  Church  changed  their  belief  by  becom- 
ing Protestants.  He  who  returns  to  the  Church  of  Christ 
only  throws  himself  into  the  arms  of  that  tenderest  of  mothers, 
from  whom  he  once  fled  at  the  risk  of  his  eternal  salvation; 
for  the  Messias  declared:  "If  he  will  not  hear  the  Church, 
let  him  be  to  thee  as  the  heathen  and  publican"  (Matt.  XVIII, 
17),  that  is,  as  an  unbeliever  and  a  sinner. 


CHAPTER  XL 

MISSIONS  AMONG  THE  INDIANS  IN  THE  DIOCESE 
OF  DUBUQUE. 

The  diocese  of  Dubuque  comprises  the  vast  Territory  of 
Iowa,  only  a  thirtieth  part  of  which  is  occupied  by  civilized 
people  who  are  of  European  descent, — the  diocese  compre- 
hends therefore  within  its  limits  about  fifty  thousand  Indians, 
of  the  tribes  of  Iowas,  Sacs  and  Foxes,  some  Winnebagoes  in 
the  south,  Sioux  and  Chippewas  in  the  north.  Now  the  preach- 
ing of  the  Gospel  among  the  first  four  tribes  has  encountered 
obstacles  almost  insuperable  by  reason  of  the  precarious  con- 
ditions of  the  tribes,  for  within  the  course  of  only  a  few 
years,  they  have  many  times  sold  the  land  on  which  they  were 
living  to  the  Government,  and  so  have  often  changed  their 
abodes ;  moreover,  even  on  the  very  soil  which  they  at  present 
occupy,  they  consider  themselves  strangers,  knowing  too  well 
that  they  must  soon  leave  it,  and  pass  on  elsewhere.  The 
gross  sum  yearly  paid  to  them  by  the  Government  brings  with 
it  such  an  excess  of  demoralization  that  they  are  rendered 
utterly  averse  to  devoting  themselves  to  Religion,  while  the 
vices  of  drunkenness,  domestic  discord  and  the  diseases 
caused  by  their  miserable  environments  making  irreparable 
havoc  among  them,  have  reduced  them  to  a  mere  remnant 
of  once  numerous  tribes.  Several  attempts  were  made  to  en- 
courage some  religious  fervor  among  the  united  tribes  of  the 
Sacs  and  Foxes,  but  to  little  purpose.  When  the  Reverend 
R.  Petiot,  now  of  Galena,  by  the  advice  of  Bishop  Loras  went 
among  the  Winnebagoes  in  1842,  his  ministrations  brought 
great  consolation  to  those  few  Christians  who  had  been  con- 
verted previous  to  the  year  1835  and  had  persevered  in  the 
path  of  rectitude;  but  as  his  experience  convinced  him  of 

[295] 


296    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

the  almost  entire  impossibility  of  helping  the  others,  he  re- 
mained there  only  for  several  months. 

The  numerous  tribe  of  the  Sioux  and  many  also  of  the 
Chippewas  occupying  an  immense  tract  in  the  northern  part 
of  Iowa,  a  section  not  so  eagerly  coveted  by  the  Government 
as  the  more  southern  portion  possessed  a  more  secure  abode, 
less  frequented  by  the  throng  of  traders,  for  which  reason 
they  are  less  contaminated  and  more  open  to  the  influence  of 
Christianity.  Bishop  Loras,  with  his  usual  zeal,  did  not  fail 
to  consecrate  to  their  needs  a  portion  of  the  funds  contributed 
by  the  Propaganda,  with  the  hope  of  obtaining  the  conversion 
of  these  tribes.  Before  the  autumn  of  1839,  the  Bishop  had 
sent  the  Reverend  S.  Galtier  in  his  quality  of  Missionary  to 
that  famous  point  on  the  Mississippi,  generally  called  Saint 
Peter's.  This  place,  which  now  marks  the  head  of  navigation 
on  the  great  River  on  account  of  a  cascade  there  called  the 
Falls  of  Saint  Anthony,  is  about  three  hundred  and  sixty 
miles  from  Dubuque  and  at  the  juncture  of  the  Saint  Peter 
River  with  the  Mississippi.  There  at  the  upper  extremity 
of  an  elevated  tongue  of  land  separating  the  two  rivers,  the 
Government  has  established  a  Fort  for  the  defense  of  the 
Republic  against  the  Indian  tribes.  The  Priest  aforesaid  found 
there  a  few  Canadians  without  a  vestige  of  Catholicity;  how- 
ever, his  zeal,  aided  by  the  assistance  of  his  Bishop,  built  a 
frame  Church  dedicated  to  Saint  Peter,  instructed  the  people, 
baptized  Indians  as  well  as  some  children  of  Canadian  fathers 
and  Indian  mothers.  He  exercised  his  ministry  with  abundant 
fruit  and  established  the  Faith  in  the  northern  regions  of  Wis- 
consin near  his  Mission. 

In  1841,  the  Bishop  of  the  diocese  sent  the  Reverend 
Louis  Ravoux  to  evangelize  the  Indians  of  the  Sioux  tribe. 
This  devoted  Priest  pushed  on  more  than  six  hundred  miles 
from  Dubuque,  that  is,  to  a  distance  of  about  two  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  above  the  Falls  of  Saint  Anthony,  in  the  firm 
hope  of  gaining  these  poor  souls  to  Christ.  It  would  not  be 
easy  to  describe  the  virtues  of  this  Missionary,  in  whom  a 
perfect  contempt  for  the  world,  charity  the  most  ardent,  humil- 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    297 

ity,  modesty,  patience,  the  spirit  of  prayer  and  penance  render 
him  dear  and  precious  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord.  Always  joyous 
and  content  in  the  direst  poverty  and  affliction,  he  busied 
himself  in  learning  the  language  of  the  Sioux,  among  whom  he 
had  fixed  his  abode ;  he  translated  the  prayers  and  the  Cate- 
chism into  that  dialect  and  taught  the  truths  of  the  Gospel  to 
the  Indians.  Having  no  record  or  direct  information  as  to 
the  present  state  of  his  Mission,  we  cannot  report  its  progress, 
but  from  the  fact  that  the  Reverend  Anthony  Godfert,  who 
was  ordained  by  Bishop  Loras  in  the  autumn  of  1842,  was 
appointed  assistant  the  next  year  to  Reverend  Louis  Ravoux, 
we  may  conclude  that  his  labor  of  converting  the  Sioux,  is 
taking  on  a  favorable  appearance  and  encouraging  us  to  hope 
that  a  great  number  have  been  regenerated  in  holy  Baptism 
and  are  sharing  in  the  inheritance  of  the  children  of  God. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  Sioux  and  the  Chippewas  could 
easily  be  converted  to  the  Faith  if  we  may  judge  from  the 
moral  and  political  condition  of  these  tribes  in  the  Territories 
of  Iowa  and  Wisconsin,  for  these  do  not  present  the  same 
obstacles  to  conversion  that  are  actually  encountered  in  all 
the  other  tribes  who  live  nearest  to  the  whites.  Yet  to  carry 
on  this  grand  work  of  salvation  to  successful  issue,  humanly 
speaking,  the  vocation  and  the  zeal  of  the  Priests  alone  would 
not  suffice,  for  experience  has  shown  that  it  is  not  the  labors 
of  isolated  individuals,  but  those  of  an  organization  well  dis- 
ciplined and  provided  with  means  for  founding  the  necessary 
establishments,  which  give  permanence  and  vigor  to  the 
Missions. 

The  reader  of  this  chapter  should  not  content  himself  with 
admiring  and  praising  the  zeal  and  the  virtues  of  the  Mis- 
sionaries among  the  savages,  or  with  simply  desiring  the  con- 
version of  those  pagans;  he  ought  also  to  strive,  both  by 
prayers  and  by  alms  to  propagate  that  Faith  which,  God  knows, 
costs  what  sweat  and  what  sufferings  on  the  part  of  him  who 
preaches  that  Faith !  By  this  we  would  not  intimate  that  the 
Religion  of  Christ  has  need  of  human  assistance  in  diffusing 
itself  among  the  infidels,  but  we  do  mean  to  simply  counsel 


298    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

this  as  a  most  excellent  work  of  charity ;  that  is,  to  contribute 
to  the  expenses  connected  with  exterior  worship  and  to  lessen 
the  sufferings  of  him  who  preaches  the  Faith,  by  furnishing 
him  the  bare  necessaries  of  life,  and  in  this  way  cooperating  in 
the  fulfillment  of  those  Heavenly  missions  which  made  Isaias 
cry  out :  "How  beautiful  upon  the  mountains  are  the  feet  of 
him  that  bringeth  good  tidings,  and  that  preacheth  peace;  of 
him  that  sheweth  forth  good,  that  preacheth  salvation,  that 
saith  to  Sion  'Thy  God  shall  reign.'  "     (II,  7). 


CHAPTER  XLI 

CHURCH  OF  SAINT  AUGUSTINE  AT  SINSINAWA, 
WISCONSIN  —  ACCOUNT  OF  SAINT  MICH- 
AEL'S CHURCH,  GALENA,  1842. 

In  Wisconsin  Territory,  nine  miles  from  the  city  of  Galena, 
and  seven  miles  from  Dubuque,  there  is  an  isolated  Mount 
rising  about  three  hundred  English  feet  above  the  rich,  high 
lands  surrounding  it.  The  American  gentleman  who  first 
owned  this  most  beautiful  place  a  few  years  ago  named  it 
Sinsinawa  from  a  little  stream  near  by  which  empties  into  the 
Mississippi.  The  discovery  of  rich  lead  mines  in  the  earth 
surrounding  induced  many  families  to  settle  there  in  1839 
as  miners  or  farmers,  among  whom  are  many  Irish  and  Ger- 
man Catholics.  These  procure  means  of  subsistence  by  cultivat- 
ing the  lands  and  laboring  in  the  mines,  but  as  it  was  very 
difficult  for  their  families  to  attend  the  churches  in  the  cities, 
the  Missionary  in  1842  determined  that  it  was  the  most  ad- 
vantageous thing  for  the  cause  of  Religion  to  build  a  Church 
near  the  Mound.  The  faithful  and  also  several  Protestants 
contributed  a  considerable  portion  of  the  necessary  funds.  The 
Priest,  as  usual  in  such  enterprises,  superintending  the  work, 
the  Lord's  House,  under  the  patronage  of  Saint  Augustine, 
was  in  the  course  of  the  summer  erected  upon  a  beautiful 
eminence.  At  present,  although  still  unfinished  in  the  interior, 
it  yet  serves  its  purpose  for  the  many  Catholics  who  attend  it. 
Its  dimensions  are  twenty-five  feet  in  width  by  forty  in  length ; 
it  is  built  entirely  of  timber,  and  finished  with  much  taste,  pre- 
senting a  pleasing  and  regular  appearance.  Thirteen  hundred 
dollars  were  spent  upon  this  building,  of  which  sum,  however, 
the  Priest  still  owes  six  hundred  dollars.  These  simple  details 
will  be  of  service  to  those  who  wish  to  trace  the  origin  of  the 

[299] 


300    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI.  O.  P. 

first  Catholic  establishments  in  the  new  sections  of  America, 
and  will  be  useful  historical  records  to  posterity,  for  the  begin- 
nings of  Catholic  worship  in  many  cities  of  the  United  States 
are  now  buried  in  oblivion  for  want  of  such  historical  records. 
The  work  most  useful  to  the  cause  of  Religion  in  the 
regions  just  referred  to,  was  completed  in  this  year,  1842;  I 
mean  the  Church  of  Saint  Michael  at  Galena.  This  building 
is  of  stone,  was  begun  in  1835,  and  the  work  interrupted 
several  times  from  lack  of  funds.  In  1841  it  had  a  loan  of 
three  thousand  dollars,  with  which  the  work  was  brought  to 
completion.  In  its  order  of  architecture,  it  is  superior  to  any 
other  of  that  quarter  of  the  country.  It  may  not  be  out  of 
place  to  observe  that  the  church  cost  fourteen  thousand  dol- 
lars, the  voluntary  contributions  of  the  faithful  of  that  par- 
ish from  1835  t0  J842;  the  disinterestedness,  economy  and 
indefatigable  attention  of  him  who  had  charge  had  this  result : 
all  the  people,  among  them  not  a  few  Protestants,  annually 
contributed  according  to  their  means.  The  parish  of  Saint 
Michael  extends  entirely  over  Jo  Daviess  county,  about 
twenty-four  miles  square,  and  contains  more  than  two  thou- 
sand Catholics.  From  the  autumn  of  1839  they  were  almost 
always  attended  by  two  Priests  who  were  often  absent,  how- 
ever, for  several  days,  in  order  to  visit  the  faithful  of  various 
stations  for  a  distance  of  thirty  and  forty  miles.  Monsignore 
Peter  Kenrick,  the  coadjutor  of  the  Right  Reverend  Joseph 
Rosati,  Bishop  of  Saint  Louis,  in  July,  had  the  kindness  to 
visit  the  congregation  of  Catholics  of  Galena  to  bless  their 
church  and  to  preach  twice  a  day  during  the  course  of  a  week. 
His  eloquent  moral  and  dogmatic  discourses  conduced  to  the 
spiritual  advancement  of  many  of  his  hearers. 


CHAPTER  XLII 

THE  REASON  FOR  THE  PRIEST'S  DECISION  TO 
VISIT  HIS  NATIVE  LAND— PREACHING  AND 
CONVERSIONS  IN  BURLINGTON  IN  1843. 

The  frequent  journeys  during  the  summer  of  1842  in  ful- 
filment of  the  various  obligations  of  his  missions,  in  the 
autumn,  brought  on  a  severe  illness  which  threatened  the  life 
of  the  Priest,  then  staying  in  Iowa  City.  In  that  distant  cor- 
ner of  the  American  Republic,  so  lately  settled,  it  was  not 
always  easy  to  find  physicians  endowed  with  necessary  skill 
in  administering  suitable  remedies;  in  this  case,  however,  a 
kind  Providence  willed  that  the  patient  should  find  one  who 
understood  the  case  and  gave  the  suitable  remedies  and  slowly 
rescued  him  from  his  apparently  hopeless  condition.  During 
many  months  of  convalescing,  it  was  decided,  following  the 
advice  of  friends,  that  he  should  make  a  visit  to  his  old  home, 
persuaded  that  this  was  the  Will  of  God,  for  the  good  of  him- 
self and  others. 

With  strength  partly  restored,  the  Missionary  in  accord- 
ance with  the  Bishop's  desires  occupied  himself  during  the 
winter  in  organizing  the  parish  of  Saint  Paul,  in  Burlington, 
which  had  been  increased  by  the  arrival  of  a  number  of  Cath- 
olic families  from  foreign  countries.  The  most  respectable 
and  well  educated  Protestant  citizens,  among  whom  were  law- 
yers and  sectarian  ministers,  thronged  to  the  Church  every 
Sunday  evening  to  listen  to  the  discourses  on  dogma  freely 
preached  in  defence  of  the  Truth  and  against  error.  And 
though  the  Priest  had  signified  to  his  hearers  his  desire  to 
enter  upon  a  public  controversy  with  any  minister,  no  one 
appeared  to  take  advantage  of  such  an  opportunity  of  de- 

[301  ] 


302    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

fending  the  main  negative  principles  upon  which  their  par- 
ticular doctrines  rest. 

One  result  of  this  Mission  was  the  conversion  of  an  Amer- 
ican gentleman  to  the  Faith;  he  had  been  a  member  of  the 
Methodist  sect.  The  arguments  drawn  from  Holy  Writ,  from 
reason  and  from  ecclesiastical  History  upon  the  obligation  of 
Sacramental  Confession  and  upon  the  Divine  Power  of  re- 
mitting sin  conferred  upon  the  Church  by  Jesus  Christ,  had 
wrought  so  powerfully  upon  this  well-disposed  soul,  that  on 
that  very  evening,  on  leaving  the  Church,  he  declared  himself 
a  Catholic  and  promised  to  go  to  Confession.  With  the  as- 
sistance of  this  grace,  he  had  the  consolation  at  last  of  re- 
ceiving the  most  holy  Eucharist  on  the  first  Monday  of  Lent, 
and  the  practice  of  all  the  duties  of  a  Christian  obtained  for 
him  that  fervor,  through  which  he  is  now  led  to  the  prac- 
tice of  the  works  of  mercy. 

A  woman  who  had  been  a  member  of  the  Reformed 
Lutheran  Church,  whose  children  had  been  baptized  in  the 
Catholic  Church  a  few  months  before,  came  to  be  regenerated 
in  that  Sacrament.  After  the  administering  of  Sacramental 
Absolution  (conferred  in  case  the  Baptism  received  in  her 
infancy  had  been  valid)  she  received  with  edifying  fervor  the 
Bread  of  Angels,  no  more  to  be  separated  from  that  loving 
Jesus,  Who  had  called  her  to  Himself.  Such  spiritual  con- 
solations always  turn  to  the  edification  of  the  Minister  of  the 
Altar,  for  they  are  accompanied  by  the  sweet  hope  that  he 
may  have  contributed  in  some  way,  like  an  instrument  in  God's 
Hand,  to  increasing  the  number  of  the  elect. 

Bishop  Loras  in  that  year  appointed  as  Pastor  over  the 
parish  of  Saint  Paul,  the  Reverend  J.  Healy,  an  Irishman  who 
had  come  to  the  diocese  of  Dubuque  the  preceding  year;  his 
edifying  life  assisted  by  his  eloquence  will  carry  on  propaga- 
tion of  the  Faith  in  Burlington  and  the  surrounding  country, 
where  but  a  few  months  ago,  it  had  been  almost  unknown, 
and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  after  error  has  been  unmasked,  the 
Faith  will  reign  there  supreme. 


CHAPTER  XLIII 

THE  FALSE  PROPHET,  JOSEPH  SMITH,  GOLDEN 
BOOK  OF  MORMON— SECT  OF  THE  LATTER- 
DAY  SAINTS  AND  THEIR  ABSURD  DOC- 
TRINES. 

It  was  in  February,  1843,  that  the  Missionary  determined 
to  see  and  speak  with  a  heresiarch  notorious  for  years,  in  every 
quarter  of  the  Republic  and  in  England,  also.  With  this  ob- 
ject, the  Priest  left  Burlington  for  a  few  days,  and  betook 
himself  to  the  town  of  Fort  Madison  where  the  Reverend  J. 
Alleman  was  exercising  his  holy  ministry.  Descending  the 
Mississippi  on  the  ice  for  ten  miles,  he  arrived  at  Nauvoo,  the 
famous  city  of  the  Mormons.  There  the  famous  Prophet 
Joseph  Smith,  founder  of  the  sect,  has  his  residence. 

In  order  to  awake  in  the  devout  reader's  soul,  sentiments 
of  lasting  gratitude  to  God,  to  Whose  mercy  he  owes  the  price- 
less gift  of  Faith,  we  will  give  here  an  idea  of  the  new  re- 
ligion of  the  Mormons.  This  belief,  though  founded  upon  the 
most  extreme  imposture  and  professing  the  most  extravagant 
and  absurd  doctrines,  nevertheless  has  found  a  great  number 
of  followers  in  the  blind  credulity  and  fanaticism  of  those 
upon  whom  the  light  of  Catholic  Truth  does  not  shine. 

The  false  prophet  and  heresiarch,  Joseph  Smith,  founder 
of  the  sect  of  Mormons  or  "Latter-Day  Saints"  is  a  man  of 
thirty-nine  years,  tall  and  well-proportioned;  his  countenance 
manifests  neither  amiability  or  good  judgment,  his  expres- 
sion indicates  anything  but  piety,  his  manners  are  rather  rude. 
Born  of  poor  parents,  he  did  not  have  the  advantages  of  an 
ordinary  education.  He  has  a  wife  and  children.  His  in- 
fluence over  the  sect  is  almost  unbounded,  and  he  seeks  by 
every  means  to  hold  the  Mormons  to  the  belief  that  he  is  a 

[  303  1 


304    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

prophet  of  the  Most  High,  with  Whom  he  declares  he  has 
frequent  colloquies  and  by  Whose  inspiration  he  directs  and 
governs  the  new  church  of  the  "Latter-Day  Saints."  On  the 
occasion  of  the  Missionary's  visit  to  him,  he  solemnly  declared 
that  he  had  many  times  seen  Almighty  God,  face  to  face,  and 
had  received  many  revelations  from  the  Apostle  Saint  Paul, 
to  whom  he  asserted  that  he  was  not  inferior  in  goodness.  So 
great  was  his  imposture  and  effrontery  that  in  one  harangue 
he  proclaimed  himself  great  as  Moses,  and  as  Jesus  Christ. 
There  was  much  comment  of  his  immorality  even  among  his 
own  followers.  The  false  prophet  owes  the  propagation  of 
his  false  doctrines  to  the  cooperation  of  several  interested  as- 
sociates, among  whom  are  distinguished,  Sidney  Rigdon,  Par- 
ley P.  Pratt,  and  John  Taylor.  The  religious  ignorance  of 
the  Protestant  people  also  contributes  to  this  result. 

The  history  of  this  great  impostor  of  our  century  dates 
from  1823,  when  he  was  only  seventeen  years  old.  Joseph 
Smith  assures  us  that  on  the  twenty-second  day  of  September 
in  that  year,  an  angel  appeared  to  him  from  Heaven  to  assure 
him  his  sins  were  forgiven  and  to  reveal  to  him  where  he 
would  find  an  ancient  book  written  on  plates  of  gold  and  en- 
titled "The  Book  of  Mormon,"  written  by  a  certain  Moroni. 
the  last  of  the  tribe  of  the  Nephites  of  the  race  of  Israel,  and 
fourteen  hundred  years  ago  deposited  in  a  stone  chest  upon 
the  hill  Camorah  in  the  State  of  New  York.  Joseph  Smith's 
desire  to  enrich  himself  by  the  acquisition  of  this  golden  book 
had  this  result,  however,  that  when  he  set  about  removing  it 
from  the  spot  indicated,  the  Angel  would  not  let  him  secure 
it.  On  September  22,  1827,  the  Angel  of  the  Lord  appeared 
a  second  time  to  the  "prophet,"  consigned  to  him  "The  Book 
of  Mormon"  together  with  two  stones  called  Urim  and  Thum- 
mim*  looking  through  which  he  would  be  enabled  to  translate 
from  the  Egyptian  language  into  English  what  was  written 
upon  the  golden  plates.     After  various  vicissitudes,  Joseph 

*  "Urim"  and  "Thummim"  are  two  Hebrew  words  meaning  "Doc- 
trine and  Truth"  and  were  affixed  to  that  part  of  the  Pontifical  robes  of 
Aaron,  called  the  Rational,  which  was  the  High  Priest's  breast-plate. 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    305 

Smith,  assisted  by  two  companions  employed  as  writers,  fin- 
ished the  translation  in  1830.  This  done,  the  Angel  again  ap- 
peared and  carried  away  those  wonderful  plates  of  portent. 

"The  Book  of  Mormon"  or  "The  Records  of  the  Nephites" 
forms  a  volume  of  five  hundred  pages  in  octavo,  containing 
fifteen  different  books,  assuming  to  be  the  works  of  the  dif- 
ferent authors  whose  names  they  bear.  The  history  of  these 
books  extends  over  a  period  of  a  thousand  years,  that  is,  from 
the  time  of  Sedecias,  King  of  Juda,  to  the  year  420  A.  D.  In 
these  ill-written  records,  which  might  be  called  rude  religious 
romances,  it  is  pretended  that  the  true  history  is  given  of  the 
aborigines  or  the  Indians  of  the  American  Continent,  who 
there  emigrated  from  Jerusalem  about  six  hundred  years  be- 
fore the  Christian  era  under  the  leadership  of  a  certain  Judaeus 
Lehi ;  on  their  arrival  in  these  regions  his  children  separated 
into  two  peoples,  one  faithful  to  the  Law  of  Moses,  the  other 
wicked  and  barbarous;  the  former  were  called  Nephites,  the 
latter  went  under  the  name  of  Lamanites.  Thence  the  book- 
goes  on  to  relate  their  apostasies,  journeys,  vicissitudes  and 
wars  which  disturbed  these  nations  for  a  thousand  years. 
Different  prophets  were  sent  by  God  to  both  the  Nephites  and 
Lamanites  during  that  period ;  the  Messiah  of  the  world  Him- 
self appeared  to  them  after  His  resurrection  in  Jerusalem ; 
He  also  chose  out  of  the  tribes  of  America,  twelve  apostles  to 
preach  His  doctrine.  But  after  many  years  these  people  de- 
livered themselves  up  to  irreligion  and  sin,  for  which  reason 
the  Lord  roused  the  most  wicked  of  the  two  nations  to  destroy 
His  own  people,  so  that  according  to  the  history  of  the 
prophet  Moroni,  two  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  people  were 
killed  in  the  last  battle  near  the  hill  Camorah ;  he  alone  sur- 
vived of  all  his  tribe  to  record  the  fact  by  means  of  the  his- 
tory of  the  vicissitudes  of  the  Nephites  on  the  aforementioned 
plates  of  gold,  which  he  hid  by  Divine  inspiration  upon  the 
hill  Camorah. 

There  are  documents  in  existence  sufficient  to  prove  that 
the  so-called  Book  of  Mormon  was  written  by  a  certain  min- 
ister,   Spaulding,   who   entitled   it   "The   Manuscript   Found." 


306    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

After  his  death  in  1816,  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  Joseph  Smith, 
an  ignorant  man,  but  cunning  enough  to  make  a  bad  use  of 
it  by  publishing  it  as  a  miraculous  work  of  divine  inspiration. 
In  spite  of  the  gross  imposture  on  which  the  book  was  based, 
the  prophet  with  several  companions  whom  he  declared  to 
have  been  chosen  by  Divine  inspiration,  began  to  preach  and 
soon  gathered  about  him  a  number  of  disciples,  whom  he  bap- 
tized by  immersion,  under  the  name  of  the  Latter-Day  Saints, 
more  commonly  known  as  Mormons. 

In  1835,  they  built  a  temple  in  the  State  of  Ohio  at  a  cost 
of  forty  thousand  dollars,  but  finding  themselves  deeply  in 
debt  and  in  distress,  many  of  them  emigrated  to  Missouri  and 
there  by  God's  command  to  the  prophet  were  to  build  the 
eternal  City  and  temple  of  Zion.  But  in  place  of  this,  in  1838 
they  were  driven  out  of  the  State  by  the  united  forces  of  the 
Missourians  on  account  of  their  pernicious  doctrines  in  op- 
position to  the  Government,  and  for  their  insubordination  to 
the  laws.  At  last,  early  in  1839,  tneY  t0°k  refuge  in  the  State 
of  Illinois  on  the  bank  of  the  Mississippi ;  there  they  com- 
menced the  city  of  Nauvoo  upon  a  most  beautiful  plain,  a 
town  which  now  contains  from  eight  to  ten  thousand  inhabi- 
tants. The  Mormons  have  been  occupied  for  several  years 
in  building  a  great  temple  of  a  unique  style  of  architecture; 
the  false  prophet  declared  to  his  followers  that  he  had  con- 
ceived the  plan  for  this  by  Divine  inspiration.  According  to 
their  own  estimate  the  number  of  these  fanatics  is  not  less 
than  a  hundred  thousand,  many  of  whom  are  in  England  and 
Canada. 

The  reader  may  perhaps  be  anxious  to  know  what  points  in 
their  doctrines  distinguish  the  Mormons  from  the  other  sects. 
We  will,  therefore,  give  here  a  synopsis  full  enough  to  satisfy 
his  reasonable  desire. 

In  the  first  place,  the  Mormons  believe  in  the  Divine  origin 
of  the  Holy  Scriptures  and  profess  an  equal  reverence  for 
the  Book  of  Mormon,  which  is  also  called  the  Bible  of  the 
Mormons.  They  affirm  that  the  Redemption  of  Jesus  Christ 
has  already  saved  the  entire  human  race,  therefore  children 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    307 

dying  before  attaining  the  use  of  reason,  go  to  Paradise,  Bap- 
tism not  being  a  necessity  for  them.  Baptism  by  immersion  of 
the  whole  body  is  a  necessary  condition  for  the  remission  of 
sins  committed  by  adults.  This  Sacrament,  according  to  their 
theology,  is  applicable  to  the  souls  of  their  parents  and  friends 
dying  at  an  adult  age  without  having  received  it.  Conse- 
quently some  Mormons  have  themselves  baptized  many  times. 
Through  the  imposition  of  hands  by  their  apostles  and  min- 
isters in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  they  believe  that  they  re- 
ceive the  gift  of  revelation,  of  prophecy,  of  visions,  of  appari- 
tions of  the  Angels,  of  curing  the  sick,  of  working  miracles ; 
in  short  all  the  gifts  mentioned  in  the  Bible.  Moreover,  they 
believe  that  Apostles  and  prophets  like  those  of  the  New 
Testament  should  always  be  in  the  Church.  The  Mormons 
accuse  the  Catholic  Church  and  also  all  the  Protestant  sects 
of  apostatizing  from  the  teaching  of  the  Gospel,  and  for  this 
reason  that  the  whole  world  for  more  than  fourteen  hundred 
years  has  been  without  the  true  Church.  They  pretend  that 
this  sect  of  fanatics  has  been  raised  up  by  Almighty  God  for 
the  purpose  of  preparing  for  the  second  advent  of  the  Messias 
who  will  come  in  the  clouds  of  Heaven  in  great  power  and 
glory.  They  assert  that  this  event  will  be  preceded  by  universal 
destruction  and  by  judgment  upon  all  the  kingdoms  of  the 
earth,  and  that  it  is  already  close  at  hand.  In  the  midst  of  these 
calamities  the  Kingdom  of  God  upon  earth  will  remain  un- 
harmed and  triumphant. 

The  theology  of  the  Mormons  is  for  the  most  part  the  work 
of  a  certain  Parley  Parker  Pratt.  This  man  teaches  that  all 
the  prophecies  of  the  Bible  are  purely  literal;  of  these  many 
have  been  fulfilled,  others  are  approaching  fulfillment.  The 
deluded  writer,  to  rouse  enthusiasm  among  his  ignorant  fol- 
lowers, gives  a  description  of  the  beauty  and  perfection  of 
the  world  before  the  Fall  of  Adam,  then  deplores  its  present 
state,  and  quoting  many  prophecies  literally,  predicts  that  on 
the  second  Coming  of  Christ,  this  world  will  be  re-established 
in  its  original  perfect  state.  The  various  divisions  of  the  globe 
with  the  islands  will  be  united  into  one  continent ;  there  will  be 


308    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

neither  hill  nor  valley  nor  crooked  paths ;  the  deserts  shall 
blossom  and  all  nature  shall  be  changed  into  one  delightful 
garden,  the  wild  beasts  grown  tame  shall  live  together;  the 
just  shall  inhabit  the  earth,  enjoying  its  fruits  in  perfect  peace, 
all  clad  in  white  linen,  as  becomes  immortality. 

Among  the  most  remarkable  dreams  of  this  man  may  be 
considered  this  that  all  the  Jews  will  rise  to  return  to  the  land 
of  Israel,  will  rebuild  the  Old  Jerusalem,  will  have  David 
as  King;  that  Adam  with  locks  white  as  wool,  seated  in  state 
shall  salute  all  his  sons  who  died  in  the  faith  of  the  Messias. 
Moreover,  in  this  Mormon  Paradise  all  the  Patriarchs,  the 
Prophets,  the  Apostles  and  all  the  just  shall  salute  each  other 
while  the  Messias  Himself  shall  offer  them  bread  and  wine. 
This  will  be  the  Nuptials  of  the  Lamb. 

The  Mormon  belief  teaches  also  that  before  the  Second 
Coming  of  Christ,  there  shall  be  built  the  great  City  of  Sion, 
sanctuary  of  the  Lord,  where  gold  will  take  the  place  of  brass, 
silver  of  iron,  brass  of  wood,  and  iron  of  stone.  They  predict 
that  the  New  Jerusalem,  as  told  in  the  Scripture,  will  be  built 
in  America,  conformable  to  the  ancient  plan,  and  that  it  will 
serve  for  the  descendants  of  the  Patriarch  Joseph,  that  is,  for 
the  Indians  of  America  and  for  those  who  shall  join  them. 

The  Old  and  the  New  Jerusalem  and  the  City  of  Sion, 
according  to  the  predictions  of  Ezechiel  and  other  prophets  of 
the  Bible  and  of  "The  Book  of  Mormon,"  shall  continue  in 
peace  and  prosperity  for  the  space  of  one  thousand  years,  called 
the  Millennium,  but,  later,  when  the  heavens  and  the  earth 
shall  be  renewed,  these  cities  shall  be  raised  on  high  with  their 
inhabitants,  where  changed  and  made  new,  they  shall  descend 
after  the  catastrophe,  one,  upon  the  land  of  America,  the  other 
upon  the  site  which  it  first  occupied  and  there  they  will  remain 
for  all  eternity.  Such  is  the  beautiful  paradise  of  these 
fanatics. 

The  Mormon  idea  of  Divinity  is  a  thoroughly  material  one. 
Their  theologian,  Parley  Pratt,  as  quoted  by  his  associate,  John 
Taylor,  hints  in  his  writings  that  as  God  created  man  to  His 
own  Image,  He  Himself  has  a  material  body  like  ours, — He 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    309 

defends  this  absurd  statement,  by  quoting  expressions  of  Holy 
Writ,  wherein,  in  speaking  of  Almighty  God,  are  employed 
the  words,  face,  hand,  arm,  ear,  finger,  foot,  etc.  Not  only 
do  they  attribute  a  material  body  to  the  Divinity,  but  they  be- 
lieve Him  to  be  subject  to  the  passions,  the  anger,  hatred,  fury, 
revenge,  etc.,  in  the  same  sense  as  these  words  have  when 
spoken  of  men.  The  Mormon's  Deity  may  justly  be  termed 
a  new  Jupiter. 

We  may  observe  here  that  any  system  of  religion,  however 
extravagant  and  absurd  in  its  teachings,  will  always  find  fol- 
lowers among  non-Catholics,  whenever  the  authors  of  the  sys- 
tem know  how  to  quote  many  passages  from  the  Bible  in  its 
defence.  The  Mormon  preachers  had  so  thoroughly  studied 
the  Bible  as  to  stand  ready  to  convince  their  hearers  that  these 
dogmas  were  a  commingling  of  the  prophecies  and  the  Gospel ; 
in  this  way  they  converted  a  great  number  of  people,  among 
them  not  a  few  ministers  of  the  sects.  It  seems  almost  in- 
credible that  a  people  can  be  so  intelligent,  so  keen-sighted  in 
the  business  of  this  world,  so  enterprising  and  so  fond  of  read- 
ing as  are  the  Americans  of  the  United  States,  and  at  the  same 
time  so  ready  to  believe  every  error  invented  by  cunning  and 
religious  fanaticism.  But  of  what  are  not  men  capable  outside 
of  the  Catholic  Church?  Will  they  be  able  to  find  the  Truth 
without  it  ?  Will  they  be  able  to  hold  fast  to  any  belief  ?  Will 
they  find  any  foundation  whereon  to  build  ?  The  great  apostle 
of  the  Gentiles  answers  us  in  his  letter  to  Timothy,  that  they 
are  "ever  learning,  and  never  attaining  to  the  knowledge  of 
Truth"  (II,  III,  7),  and  writing  to  the  Ephesians  he  calls  them 
children  tossed  to  and  fro,  and  carried  about  with  every  wind 
of  doctrine  by  the  wickedness  of  men,  by  cunning  craftiness 
whereby  they  lie  in  wait  to  deceive  (IV,  14)  ;  lastly,  he  denies 
that  there  is  any  foundation  of  true  doctrine  outside  the  House 
of  God,  which  he  declares  "is  the  Church  of  the  living  God, 
the  pillar  and  ground  of  Truth"  (I  Tim.  Ill,  15). 

From  this  digression  let  the  Catholic  learn  to  be  forever 
grateful  to  God  for  the  Heavenly  gift  of  Faith  which  has  been 
granted  to  him  in  preference  to  so  many  others,  who  have  be- 


310    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

come  the  victims  of  error  and  religious  fanaticism.  Let  the 
non-Catholic  then,  beholding  the  sad  consequences  and  excesses 
into  which  the  private  interpretation  of  the  Bible  carries  the 
sectarians,  abandon  the  false  system  of  the  Reformation,  by 
professing  obedience  to  the  Church,  outside  of  which  are  found 
only  the  false  teachings  of  those  men  of  whom  the  Messias 
prophesied  when  he  said :  "And  many  false  prophets  shall 
rise  and  shall  seduce  many"  (Matt.  XXIV,  n). 

Returning  to  the  city  of  Burlington  after  this  visit  to  the 
false  prophet,  the  Missionary  remained  there  until  the  first 
week  of  Lent,  when  he  departed  for  Galena,  one  hundred  and 
eighty  miles  distant.  He  made  a  portion  of  this  journey  on 
the  icy  surface  of  the  Mississippi  River,  a  most  agreeable 
mode  of  traveling  with  horse  and  sleigh ;  but  the  cold  was 
more  intense  than  on  previous  years,  the  temperature  being 
ten  degrees  below  the  freezing  point  for  the  greater  part  of 
the  month  of  March. 


CHAPTER  XLIV 

DEPARTURE  OF  THE  MISSIONARY  FROM  GALENA 
—HE  ASSISTS  AT  THE  COUNCIL  OF  BALTI- 
MORE—CROSSES THE  OCEAN  AND  FINALLY 
ARRIVES  IN  MILAN. 

The  Christian  who  recognizes  his  own  inability  to  under- 
stand what  tends  to  his  own  greater  spiritual  good  is  always 
disposed  to  abandon  himself  to  the  guidance  of  the  invisible 
Hand  of  that  God,  in  Whom,  speaking  with  Saint  Paul,  "we 
live  and  move  and  are"  (Acts  XVII,  28).  Renouncing  self 
and  sacrificing  his  own  will  to  the  inscrutable  designs  of  God, 
he  loses  nothing  and  gains  everything,  according  to  the  Apostle's 
teaching  to  the  Romans:  "We  know  that  to  them  that  love 
God  all  things  work  together  unto  good."     (VIII,  28.) 

The  many  circumstances  which  led  the  Missionary  to  absent 
himself  for  a  time  from  his  American  Missions  and  to  visit 
his  native  country,  forced  themselves  upon  his  attention,  under 
such  an  aspect  as  almost  to  compel  him  to  undertake  the  long 
journey.  Serious  failure  in  health,  the  necessity  of  a  rest,  the 
pressing  needs  of  his  different  Missions,  adding  to  these  the 
most  kindly  agreement  of  the  Bishop  of  Dubuque,  with  a  few 
other  reasons  of  lesser  importance  determined  his  departure. 
After  Easter,  1843,  ^e  l^*  tne  C^Y  °f  Galena,  state  of  Illinois, 
for  Milan  in  Italy.  As  he  was  entirely  destitute  of  money, 
he  relied  on  Providence  for  his  expenses.  The  people,  con- 
vinced that  the  motive  for  the  journey  was  not  for  merely 
human  ideas,  but  was  undertaken  for  their  greater  benefit, 
believed  that  they  were  bound  in  duty  to  assist  in  its  ac- 
complishment, by  contributing  money.  Bishop  Loras,  finding 
himself  obliged  to  go  to  Baltimore  in  order  to  attend  the  Trien- 
nial Council  of  the  Bishops  of  the  United  States,  took  his 

[311] 


312    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

Vicar  to  serve  as  his  theologian  at  that  solemn  Assembly, — 
and  thus  did  it  come  about  that  he  was  sped  upon  his  voyage. 

On  the  sixteenth  of  April  after  receiving  into  the  bosom  of 
the  Church  two  Protestants  of  the  Anglican  Church,  the  Mis- 
sionary left  the  little  city  of  Galena  in  a  steamboat  to  go  down 
the  majestic  Mississippi,  and  four  days  later  landed  at  the 
city  of  Saint  Louis.  Favored  by  the  delightful  breezes  of  a 
beautiful  spring,  he  found  the  deepest  delight  in  contemplating 
the  visible  works  of  God,  which  always  lead  the  Christian's 
heart  to  sigh  after  a  blessed  eternity.  In  truth,  the  rapid  motion 
of  the  boat,  accelerated  by  the  current,  made  the  view  of  the 
hills  and  valleys,  the  meadows,  the  woods,  the  vast  solitudes, 
the  numberless  islands,  and  at  intervals,  the  new  rising  towns, 
glide  before  the  eye  with  swift  disappearance  to  lose  them- 
selves in  the  distance ;  and  all  in  their  silence  seemed  to  say  to 
the  traveller,  "We  are  not  for  thee,  thou  art  travelling  towards 
another  land."  Yet  when  Nature  is  ready  to  don  her  green 
mantle  she  renders  spontaneous  that  loving  cry  from  the  heart 
of  the  Prophet  David:  "Praise  ye  Him,  ye  mountains  and  all 
hills;  fruitful  trees  and  all  cedars"  (Psalms,  CXLVIII).  The 
magnificent  starry  vault  of  the  sky  alone  could  give  one  a  pic- 
ture of  the  glorious  eternity  according  to  those  words  of  the 
Prophet :  "The  heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God ;  and  the 
firmament  showeth  the  works  of  His  Hands"  (Psalms  XVIII). 
Going  swiftly  down  the  river,  while  everything  flits  back,  the 
sky  alone  seems  immovable  to  the  gaze  and  offers  to  the 
traveler  in  the  dark  night  of  this  world  a  sure  pledge  of  that 
splendor,  the  glory  and  the  immutability  of  Paradise.  But 
until  the  longed-for  Kingdom  comes  to  us,  we  must  continue 
our  journey  in  this  vale  of  tears. 

On  reaching  Saint  Louis,  where  is  established  the  See  of 
the  Most  Reverend  Peter  Kenrick,  the  two  travelers  embarked 
on  a  beautiful  steamboat  that  was  to  go  down  the  Mississippi 
and  then  up  the  Ohio,  against  the  current,  as  far  as  Cincinnati. 
On  this  journey  of  four  days  and  four  nights,  the  Priest  had 
many  times  occasion  to  speak  of  the  Truths  of  Faith  to  many 
of  the  numerous  companies  of  American  ladies  and  gentle- 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    313 

men.  Unless  one  has  had  a  long  experience,  it  is  not  pos- 
sible to  conceive  an  idea  of  the  false  method  of  reasoning,  and 
the  false  religious  principles  of  the  majority  of  Protestants, 
notwithstanding  their  intelligence  on  other  subjects.  The 
freedom  with  which  Religion  in  America  is  treated  in  familiar 
conversation  kept  the  Missionary  busily  occupied  in  complying 
with  the  demands  of  those  who  either  through  curiosity  or 
desire  for  instruction  were  anxious  to  know  something  about 
the  true  doctrine  of  the  Church.  The  city  of  Cincinnati  was 
very  different  from  the  same  place  as  he  first  saw  it  in  1828. 
It  then  contained  only  twenty  thousand  inhabitants ;  now  it 
numbers  more  than  fifty  thousand.  Another  steamer  carried 
us  to  the  town  of  Wheeling,  whence  we  traveled  by  stage  one 
hundred  and  twenty  miles  in  twenty-two  hours  to  take  the 
railway,  at  Cumberland.  This  mode  of  traveling  seems  to 
have  attained  the  last  limit  in  speed,  for  in  eight  hours,  in- 
cluding the  stoppages  at  the  different  stations,  we  reached  the 
city  of  Baltimore,  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  seventy-five 
miles.  Baltimore  contains  about  one  hundred  and  sixty 
thousand  inhabitants,  of  whom  they  claim  there  are  forty  or 
fifty  thousand  Catholics ;  there  are  ten  churches  besides  the 
Cathedral,  the  latter  is  not  entirely  finished. 

The  Provincial  Council  of  1843  was  opened  on  the  four- 
teenth of  May ;  the  procession  of  about  forty  Priests,  fourteen 
Bishops  and  the  Archbishop,  all  vested  in  their  sacred  garb 
according  to  rank,  proceeded  from  the  Archbishop's  House, 
made  a  circuit  of  the  exterior  of  the  Church,  entered  by  the 
great  door  and  took  up  their  position  as  arranged  in  the 
sanctuary.  A  Pontifical  Mass  was  celebrated,  and  after  the 
Veni  Creator  the  Council  was  solemnly  announced.  The 
Bishops  held  private  sessions  every  morning  for  a  week  in 
the  Archbishop's  house;  in  the  afternoon  they  assembled  in 
the  sanctuary  of  the  Cathedral,  where  their  Theologians  were 
also  present,  and  also  the  Superiors  of  the  Regular  Orders  in 
America.  The  points  proposed  on  the  first  day  to  the  Theo- 
logians grouped  in  committees  of  five  to  each  point,  were 
passed  from  hand  to  hand,  cited  by  the  Bishop  Promoter  of 


314    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

the  Council;  then  that  member  to  whom  was  assigned  the 
point  last  cited  presented  his  answer  written,  on  which,  be- 
fore passing  to  the  next  member,  each  was  free  to  express 
what  he  thought  best.  In  this  manner  the  various  points  of 
Ecclesiastical  Discipline  were  publicly  discussed  by  the  Theo- 
logians in  presence  of  the  Prelates  who  were  in  their  private 
councils  framing  the  decrees  of  the  Council.  On  the  fifth  Sun- 
day after  Easter,  May  twenty-first,  the  procession  of  the  open- 
ing Sunday  was  repeated.  After  the  celebration  of  the  Pontif- 
ical Mass,  the  Bishops  in  cope  and  mitre,  each  in  turn  beginning 
with  the  oldest  in  the  episcopacy,  signed  the  Decrees  with  his 
own  hand,  on  the  Altar  at  the  Gospel  side.  Then  the  "Te 
Deum"  was  chanted.  The  creation  of  the  new  Episcopal  Sees 
and  the  election  of  the  Bishops  now  formed  the  subjects  of 
most  interest  to  the  Triennial  Council  of  Baltimore.  All  these 
Acts,  however,  are  subject  always  to  Pontifical  Authority. 

Kind  Providence  provided  for  our  Missionary  a  rare 
traveling  companion  across  the  sea,  in  the  person  of  Mon- 
signore  J.  Chabrat,  coadjutor  Bishop  of  Kentucky,  who  was 
going  to  France.  Bidding  farewell  to  Monsignore  Loras,  the 
Right  Reverend  Bishop  of  Dubuque,  the  Priest  set  out  from 
Baltimore  on  the  twenty-second  of  May,  traveling  by  rail  to 
Philadelphia  and  the  following  day  to  New  York.  At  three 
o'clock  on  the  afternoon  of  the  twenty-fifth,  on  the  Feast  of 
the  Ascension,  Bishop  Chabrat  and  his  companion  left  the 
land  in  the  steamer,  the  "Great  Western"  (which  signifies 
"II  Grande  Occidentale")  and  before  night  the  shores  of 
America  disappeared  from  our  view. 

Here  we  are  on  the  vast  sea,  but  not  tossed  by  the  fury  of 
the  winds  as  in  our  voyage  of  1828,  when  we  could  have  said 
with  the  Prophet  David :  "The  waves  mount  up  to  the 
heavens,  and  they  go  down  to  the  depths ;  their  soul  pined  away 
with  evils."  (Psalm  CVI.)  But  now  the  soft  breath  of  May 
helped  on  the  swift  course  of  the  splendid  ship.  By  the  power 
of  steam  made  almost  independent  of  the  winds  with  the 
never-ending  whirling  of  its  huge  wheels,  the  ship  ploughed 
the  immense  waste  of  waters,  seeming  to  verify  the  words  of 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    315 

the  Royal  Prophet :  "This  great  sea  which  stretcheth  wide  its 
arms;  there  are  creeping  things  without  number.  There  the 
ships  shall  go."  (Psalm  CIII.)  The  immense  fires  always 
kept  alive,  the  trail  of  dense  smoke  which  it  left  in  the  air, 
made  one  think  of  those  horses  described  by  Saint  John  in  the 
Apocalypse  whose  "heads  were  as  the  heads  of  lions;  and 
from  their  mouths  proceeded  fire,  and  smoke,  and  brim- 
stone." (IX,  17.)  All  the  passengers  to  the  number  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty- four  were  served  several  times  a  day 
at  the  same  table.  There  were  people  from  many  parts,  among 
them  more  than  thirty  ladies.  The  time  was  spent  in  conver- 
sation, reading  and  even  in  amusements  according  to  each 
one's  inclination.  Associating  with  a  company  of  this  kind 
for  several  days  greatly  assists  the  attentive  observer  in  his 
study  of  the  many  characters  which  make  up  human  society. 

On  the  morning  of  the  fifth  of  June  the  experienced  cap- 
tain had  told  the  passengers  that  the  coast  of  Ireland  would 
be  in  sight  at  evening,  which  proved  true,  and  at  six  o'clock 
in  the  morning  of  the  seventh,  Bishop  Chabrat  and  the  Mis- 
sionary landed  at  Liverpool.  On  the  same  day,  traveling  by 
rail,  two  hundred  and  ten  miles  they  reached  London,  a  place 
where  material  wealth  rises  to  the  highest,  side  by  side  with 
the  very  extremity  of  misery.  They  took  up  their  journey 
again  for  Calais,  reaching  Paris  on  June  eleventh.  Here  it 
came  to  light  that  the  Bishop,  as  if  he  had  discovered  that 
the  funds  of  his  companion  were  insufficient  to  take  him  to 
his  home,  had  paid  all  expenses  from  Liverpool,  and  now  took 
leave  of  the  Priest  to  pursue  his  journey  in  another  direc- 
tion. After  a  brief  delay  at  Paris,  Lyons  and  Turin,  the  Mis- 
sionary at  last  entered  the  city  of  Milan  on  the  Feast  Day  of 
Saints  Peter  and  Paul. 

If  for  the  sake  of  recovering  one's  health,  of  revisiting 
parents,  friends  and  native  land  after  many  years'  absence, 
the  world  deems  it  necessary  to  journey  across  the  continent 
of  America  for  sixteen  hundred  miles  by  rivers,  for  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty  by  stage,  of  four  hundred  by  rail,  then  cross- 
ing the  ocean,  to  travel  across  Europe  two  hundred  and  sixty 


316    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

miles  by  rail,  thirty  by  water,  and  another  seven  hundred  and 
eighty-six  by  stage,  what  will  not  the  Christian  do  that  he 
may  "come  to  Mount  Sion,  to  the  city  of  the  living  God,  the 
heavenly  Jerusalem  and  to  the  company  of  many  thousands 
of  Angels?"  (Hebr.  XII,  22.)  Until  we  reach  that  city  be- 
held by  Saint  John,  which  "hath  no  need  of  the  sun,  nor  of 
the  moon,  to  shine  in  it ;  for  the  glory  of  God  hath  enlight- 
ened it,  and  the  Lamb  is  the  light  thereof"  (Apoc.  XXI.  23), 
we  exiles  upon  this  earth  as  says  David  of  the  Israelites  in  the 
Babylonian  Captivity,  "shall  sit  and  weep,  when  we  remem- 
ber Sion."  (Psalm  CXXXVI.)  However  far  one  travels, 
whatever  riches  he  possess,  the  heart  is  never  satisfied,  it  can 
always  say  with  King  Solomon:  "I  have  seen  all  things  that 
are  done  under  the  sun,  and  behold  all  is  vanity  and  vexa- 
tion of  spirit."  (Eccles.  I,  14.)  And  so,  intent  only  on 
persevering  in  the  way  that  leads  to  a  happy  eternity,  that 
country  that  we  long  to  see,  we  must  needs  again  forsake 
parents,  friends  and  earthly  home,  that  we  may  one  day  enter 
our  heavenly  home.  O,  the  consolation  of  that  well  founded 
hope  that  makes  us  cry  out  with  the  Royal  Prophet : 

"In  a  strange  land,  if  I  forget  thee,  O  Jerusalem,  let  my  right 

harid  be  forgotten, 
Let  my  tongue  cleave  to  my  jaws,  if  I  do  not  remember  thee; 
If  I  make  not  Jerusalem  the  beginning  of  my  joy."     (Psalm 

CXXXVI.) 


END  OF  BOOK  SECOND 


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BOOK  III 

Protestantism  and  the  Catholic  Church 
in  the  United  States 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  SPIRIT  OF  PROTESTANTISM. 

For  the  purpose  of  showing  the  actual  condition  of  our 
holy  Religion  in  America,  in  relation  to  that  majority  of  six- 
teen millions  of  non-Catholics,  over  two  millions  of  those  be- 
longing to  the  Faith,  the  editor  of  these  Memoirs  has  decided 
that  it  may  be  of  use  to  the  reader  to  explain  the  particular 
spirit  of  Protestantism,  its  sects,  and  the  weapons  it  employs 
in  combating  Catholic  principles.  Afterwards  we  will  ex- 
plain how  interesting  is  the  mission  of  the  Church,  how  thor- 
oughly fitted  to  the  situation  are  her  clergy,  of  how  great 
utility  are  the  Sisters  of  Charity  in  the  United  States.  Lastly 
we  will  give  a  table  of  the  ecclesiastic  statistics  of  this  Great 
Republic  which  will  be  a  source  of  consolation  to  souls  filled 
with  zeal,  when  they  see  how  deeply  the  Apostolic  Hierarchy 
has  taken  root  in  every  quarter  of  the  country,  so  deeply  as 
to  fill  us  with  hope  that  one  day  it  will  bring  forth  abundant 
fruit. 

In  the  first  place  for  the  better  understanding  of  the  spirit 
of  Protestantism,  it  should  be  stated  that  perfect  freedom  of 
worship,  guaranteed  by  law,  has  had  the  result  of  developing 
the  true  character  of  the  Religious  sects  in  America.  These  of 
their  nature  disposed  to  division  and  novelty  by  the  funda- 
mental principle  of  the  Reformation,  that  is,  private  inter- 
pretation of  the  Bible,  found  in  that  country  favorable  condi- 
tions for  displaying  themselves  in  all  their  deformity.  Prot- 
estantism having  degenerated  into  a  purely  negative  doctrine 
and  with  only  individual  caprice  and  intelligence  for  a  foun- 
dation, which  is  influenced  by  every  human  passion  and  frailty, 
it  follows,  that  in  America  where  the  spirit  of  personal  inde- 
pendence is  carried  to  the  extreme,  sectarians  are  yet  more 

[  319  1 


320    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

disposed  to  deny  what  others  believe,  in  order  to  give  loose 
rein  to  the  suggestions  of  pride,  malice,  self-interest,  the  pas- 
sions, fanaticism,  personal  delusions.  Not  only  the  ministers  but 
even  every  individual  is  imbued  with  a  spirit  of  ill-directed 
religious  independence  which  leads  them  to  consider  them- 
selves sole  and  absolute  masters  and  competent  judges  of  the 
truths  to  be  believed  and  of  the  morality  to  be  practised.  The 
haughty  cry,  "I  am  a  free  man!"  seeks  to  put  down  every 
authority  and  the  teachings  of  all  the  ages  before  the  shallow, 
fallacious  reasoning  of  every  sectarian.  It  follows  from  this, 
that,  generally  speaking,  in  America,  the  opinion  of  him  who 
teaches  is  considered  no  more  worthy  of  belief  than  that  of 
his  pupil,  the  interpretation  of  the  hearer  is  held  to  be  of  equal 
authority  with  that  of  the  preacher,  and  the  acceptations  of 
the  Holy  Scriptures  are  such  and  so  many  as  to  make  it  impos- 
sible to  give  an  account  of  them.  Belonging  to  a  sect  does  not 
mean  a  firm  belief  in  all  its  teachings, — but  rather  to  go  to 
one  Church  rather  than  to  another,  to  attend  the  sermons  of. 
one  preacher  oftener  than  those  of  another,  and  in  many  cases 
it  means  only  that  one's  father  or  mother,  wife  or  husband, 
is  a  follower  of  that  sect.  Few  study  the  history  of  their 
own  sect,  and  still  fewer  its  true  doctrine. 

Every  human  institution  naturally  is  influenced  in  some 
degree  by  the  character  of  the  society  and  times  in  which  it 
finds  itself,  and  in  the  United  States,  less  than  elsewhere,  does 
Protestantism  depend  upon  the  authority  either  of  history  or  of 
its  own  theologians;  the  freedom  of  the  individual  decides 
everything.  In  the  sectarian  councils,  regardless  of  the  beliefs 
of  their  predecessors,  the  points  wherein  they  differ  are  de- 
cided with  the  utmost  freedom  not  to  say,  indifference.  The 
idea  of  a  constant,  unwavering  interpretation  of  the  Bible 
can  have  no  weight  in  their  decisions  and  any  argument  what- 
ever resting  upon  tradition  would  be  rejected  with  contempt. 
In  fine,  the  political  principle  that  the  majority  ought  to  rule, 
is  the  same  as  that  which  regulates  in  religious  matters.  To 
perceive  clearly  the  position  of  all  the  sects  in  this  country,  the 
reader  must  apply  these  facts  to  all  the  Protestant  denomina- 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    321 

tions  and  to  all  the  local  associations  that  compose  them,  and 
lastly,  must  recognize  in  each  individual  the  unlimited  exercise 
of  that  maxim,  "I  am  free"  in  a  much  wider  sense  than  in 
its  political  signification.  So  strange  an  individual  freedom 
is  the  source  of  innumerable  intellectual  vagaries,  which  are 
indirectly  protected  by  the  civil  laws,  for  these  never  put  any 
hindrance  to  the  public  preaching  of  the  most  extravagant 
religious  doctrines. 

But  notwithstanding  what  has  been  said  on  this  point, 
there  are  principles  in  the  Republic  which  arrest  the  progress 
of  any  sectarian  excesses  or  at  least  mitigate  them  to  the 
extent  of  making  them  endurable.  When  a  thing  is  pushed  to 
the  height  of  extravagance  it  must  necessarily  fall  back ;  now 
the  press  and  free  preaching  carry  the  religious  novelties  to 
the  last  extremity  in  the  beginning  and  the  people  who  reach 
and  who  grasp  everything  through  the  medium  of  the  news- 
papers soon  grow  indifferent  and  laugh  at  the  follies  of  other 
people.  Besides,  there  are  many  ready  writers  both  Catholics 
and  Protestants,  whose  pens  are  never  idle.  These  pounce 
at  once  upon  fanaticism  in  its  various  forms  from  every  direc- 
tion, and  so  weaken  it  by  reducing  the  ranks  of  its  followers. 
The  good  sense  of  the  masses,  the  wide  spread  intelligence  and 
educational  training,  added  to  indifferentism,  form  a  power- 
ful force  against  the  innate  tendency  to  non-Catholic  prin- 
ciples and  the  creation  of  new  doctrines. 

The  constant  doctrinal  dissensions  between  sect  and  sect, 
with  unrestrained  liberty  of  writing  and  speaking  contributes 
greatly  to  open  the  eyes  of  the  sincere  Protestants ;  nay,  I  will 
even  say,  whenever  such  disputes  arouse  animosity,  hatred, 
calumnies,  many  of  them  not  seldom  decide  to  forsake  their 
errors  and  join  the  Catholic  Church ;  others  end  in  despising  all 
religions,  and  professing  none  of  them. 

A  long  residence  among  a  Protestant  people  has  taught  the 
attentive  observer  that  there  are  many  individuals  among  them 
trained  in  prejudice  against  Catholicity  and  utterly  ignorant  of 
the  true  spirit  of  Christianity  or  else  persuaded  of  the  holiness 
of  their  own  sect  who  seem  to  live  in  invincible  ignorance  of 


322    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

the  true  Religion.  On  the  other  hand,  one  often  finds  among 
the  members  of  the  separated  churches  a  notable  degree  of 
piety,  of  charity,  of  love  of  one's  neighbor,  all  united  to  an 
earnest  desire  to  believe  in  all  the  Truths  revealed  by  Jesus 
Christ  and  with  the  practice  of  the  different  works  of  mercy. 
Therefore  that  Catholic  would  be  wanting  in  wisdom  who 
would  condemn  indiscriminately  and  without  regard  to  cir- 
cumstances or  to  the  inscrutable  judgments  of  God,  that  per- 
son who  is  found  apparently  outside  the  Church. 

The  political  equality  that  exists  in  America  has  completely 
deprived  Protestantism  of  the  possibility  of  obtaining  that  do- 
minion over  Catholicity  that  it  holds  in  several  states  in  Europe. 
Besides  the  great  number  of  sects,  their  dependence  upon  one 
another  for  the  sake  of  preserving  the  mutual  freedom  of 
worship  obliges  each  to  concede  to  any  other  religious  belief 
the  same  privileges  desired  by  its  own  followers.  In  like 
manner  just  upon  this  principle  rests  the  case  of  Catholicity. 
But  the  primary  cause  which  forbids  any  political  superiority 
whatever  of  one  religious  denomination  over  another  rests  in 
the  suffrage  of  the  people,  whose  vote  decides  the  bestowal  of 
almost  every  public  office.  The  result  is  that  it  seldom  hap- 
pens that  religious  fanatics  through  the  influence  of  their  own 
sect  alone,  as  also  open  and  declared  enemies  of  Christianity, 
succeed  in  securing  the  vote  of  the  people  in  general.  When 
Catholicity  has  many  followers  in  any  section,  it  not  only  wins 
the  respect  of  Government  officials,  but  is  often  able,  by  its 
influence  to  place  its  members  in  the  most  important  positions 
of  the  nation.  Therefore  considering  that  there  are  only  two 
millions  of  Catholics,  intermingled  with  a  population  of  sixteen 
millions  partly  Protestant,  and  partly  without  any  religion,  the 
present  political  relations  existing  between  the  Church  and 
the  non-Catholics  in  America  may  be  considered  as  privileges 
never  accorded  to  her  in  any  other  quarter  of  the  world  under 
like  circumstances. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  PRINCIPAL  PROTESTANT  SECTS  IN  THE 
UNITED  STATES. 

The  sects  in  the  United  States  numbering  the  most  members 
are  those  of  the  Methodists  and  Baptists ;  these  are,  however, 
subdivided  into  various  branches  differing  one  from  another 
in  some  particular  method  of  understanding  the  Bible  or  in 
some  different  form  of  government.  Although  the  sects  men- 
tioned above  publish  the  statement  that  they  number  about 
seven  million  followers,  there  is  reason  to  doubt  the  truth  of 
their  calculation. 

In  fanaticism  and  extravagant  manifestations  of  their  wor- 
ship, the  Methodists  surpass  their  brethren  in  Protestantism ; 
the  number  of  their  ministers  is  very  great,  so  that  assemblies 
are  always  well  provided  with  these  preachers,  whose  special 
virtue  consists  in  talking  much,  and  as  if  moved  by  the  Spirit 
of  God, — in  raising  their  voices  in  shouts,  prayers  and  tears 
so  as  to  affect  their  hearers.  But  the  Methodists  are  dis- 
tinguished yet  more  from  the  other  sects  by  what  is  called 
their  "Camp  Meeting,"  that  is  "Campo  di  adunanza,"  held 
twice  a  year,  but  principally  in  the  autumn.  Thither  assemble 
entire  families — fathers,  mothers,  sons,  daughters — of  all  ages, 
leaving  their  dwellings  and  daily  occupations,  carrying  with 
them  provisions  and  tents  for  the  purpose  of  dwelling  three 
or  four  days  and  nights  in  the  woods.  There,  five,  six  and  even 
ten  thousand  of  the  sect  pass  the  greater  part  of  the  day  and 
night  in  listening  to  the  ministers,  in  singing  hymns  and  in 
praying,  believing  that  thus  they  will  obtain  an  immediate, 
direct  influx  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  Many  of  the  people,  of  the 
women  especially,  at  such  times  become  so  agitated,  so  ex- 
cited and  carried  away  by  religious  fanaticism  as  to  fall  in 

[323] 


324    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

convulsions,  in  fainting  fits,  with  trembling  of  the  whole  body ; 
transported  by  their  fancies,  believing  that  they  see  the  Messias, 
they  weep,  laugh,  dance,  sing  and  pray,  accompanying  all  this 
with  violent  bodily  contortions  and  convulsions.  Our  Divine 
Saviour  seemed  to  indicate  this  sect  where  He  says :  "If  any 
man  shall  say  to  you ;  Lo  here  is  Christ  or  there,  do  not  believe 
him.  If  they  shall  say  to  you;  Behold  He  is  in  the  desert,  go 
ye  not  out;  Behold,  He  is  in  the  closet,  believe  it  not"  (Matt. 
XXIV,  23,  26). 

When  the  spirit  of  darkness  enters  into  some  of  these  vic- 
tims of  his,  he  throws  them  upon  the  ground,  and  causes  very 
strange  happenings  among  them.  It  is  said  in  the  State  of 
Kentucky  in  1800,  and  for  many  years  after,  an  epidemic  of 
convulsions  spread  among  the  assemblies  of  the  religious  fanat- 
ics ;  some  so  convulsed  that  head  and  feet  met,  rolled  like  a 
wheel  along  the  earth ;  others  rolled  horizontally  along,  grovel- 
ling in  the  mud ;  some  underwent  violent  contortions  all  over 
the  body  as  if  pierced  with  hot  irons,  sometimes  constantly 
twisting  the  head  round,  and  throwing  the  face  from  one 
shoulder  to  the  other  so  violently  so  as  to  hideously  disguise 
the  form.  There  were  women  whose  hair  rose  upon  the  head 
at  such  times,  and  who  seemed  to  hiss ;  others  jumped  around 
like  frogs,  assuming  grotesque  and  horrible  attitudes ;  others 
moved  on  all  fours  like  a  dog,  and  looking  up  into  the  face  of 
the  minister  barked  like  those  animals.*  At  present,  these 
extravagances  are  not  common  in  the  sect,  yet  there  are  still  a 
great  number  of  these  fanatics  especially  among  the  women 
who  at  the  "Camp  Meetings"  adjust  the  hair  and  garments  as 
if  they  were  about  to  endure  a  struggle,  because  during 
the  prevalence  of  this  religious  excitement  they  are  not  them- 
selves conscious  of  their  own  actions.  The  Methodists  do  not 
all  approve  of  the  "Camp  Meetings"  on  account  of  the  dis- 
orders and  immorality  which  often  accompany  such  large 
assemblies. 

*  The  particular  circumstances  referred  to  were  recently  printed  by 
Mr.  J.  B.  Turner,  the  Protestant  Professor  in  Jacksonville  College. 
Illinois,  in  a  work  entitled  "Mormonism  of  all  Ages." 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    325 

The  Baptists  are  not  behind  the  sect  just  described  in  their 
enthusiasm  and  manner  of  preaching.  Their  special  point  of 
doctrine  is  the  baptism  of  adults  by  immersion  of  the  whole 
body  under  the  water.  Very  often  they  argue  upon  this 
practice  of  theirs,  condemning  the  other  religions  as  destitute 
of  true  baptism.  The  minister  with  the  candidate  who  is 
clothed  in  a  white  garment  goes  down  into  a  river  or  lake 
until  the  water  is  up  to  his  waist,  then  submerges  him  under 
the  surface  and  raises  him  suddenly,  while  pronouncing  the 
formula  of  baptism.  As  a  sign  of  the  faith  that  animates 
them,  not  seldom  in  the  cold  winter,  they  break  an  opening 
into  the  ice  for  this  great  ceremony  without  regard  to  age  or 
sex,  much  less  for  the  harmful  results  of  so  imprudent  a  pro- 
ceeding, through  which  many  persons  have  ruined  their  health, 
and  even  lost  their  lives. 

We  may  call  the  reader's  attention  here  to  this  fact,  that 
the  Methodists  and  Baptists  comprise  almost  one-third  of  the 
Protestants  of  these  United  States  and  assimilate  the  least 
intelligent  class  of  the  people,  especially  in  sections  outside  of 
the  city,  and  where  religious  mania  finds  more  abundant 
pasturage.  It  is  these  two  sects  which  appeal  most  to  the 
feelings,  upon  which  they  work  by  the  rabid  and  extravagant 
manner  of  preaching,  praying  and  singing. 

The  various  sects  of  Presbyterians  or  Calvinists  come  next. 
For  several  years  they  lost  that  influence  which  they  appeared 
to  exercise  over  public  opinion.  Their  ministers  are  generally 
endowed  with  moderate  education,  and  they  heartily  detest 
the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ,  they  are  most  zealous  in  the  war 
against  the  truths  which  the  Church  teaches,  and  are  ever 
foremost  in  publishing  far  and  wide  anything  that  can  possibly 
appear  as  a  dishonor  and  serve  as  a  reproach  against  the 
Catholics.  Judging  by  the  exterior  aspect  of  the  Presby- 
terians, they  might  be  said  to  be  saints  upon  earth ;  the  Sunday 
is  most  scrupulously  observed  by  avoiding  even  those  occupa- 
tions or  comforts,  which  in  our  day  are  considered  lawful  by 
the  whole  Christian  world.  In  truth,  the  Lord's  Day  is  to  a 
pious  Calvinist  the  most  gloomy  day  of  the  whole  week.     In- 


326    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

deed,  one  might  be  induced  to  believe  in  the  sanctity  of  Presby- 
terianism,  had  not  the  Messias  said:  "Wo  to  you,  Scribes 
and  Pharisees,  hypocrites;  because  you  are  like  to  whited 
sepulchres,  which  outwardly  appear  to  men  beautiful,  but 
within  are  full  of  dead  men's  bones  and  of  all  filthiness.  So 
you  also  outwardly  appear  to  men  just,  but  inwardly  you  are 
full  of  hypocrisy  and  iniquity"  (Matt.  XXIII,  27,  28). 

To  the  Calvinists  succeeds  the  Episcopalian  sect,  which  as  it 
was  less  affected  by  the  Reformation,  truly  ought  to  be  less 
hostile  to  the  Catholic  Church.  It  is  divided  into  the  Pusey- 
ites,  the  High  Church  and  the  Low  Church,  which  follow  more 
or  less  closely  the  teachings  of  the  Anglican  Church  as  it  was 
established  by  the  authority  of  the  king  and  the  Parliament  of 
England.  The  Episcopalian  ministers  are  for  the  most  part 
educated  to  the  ecclesiastic  career.  With  few  exceptions  they 
bear  less  religious  aversion  for  the  Catholics  whom,  however, 
they  believe  to  be  in  error,  but  still  in  the  preservation  of  the 
truths  necessary  to  salvation.  And  yet  on  this  point,  the  body 
of  the  clergy  of  the  Low  Church  is  rather  Calvinistic.  The 
Episcopalian  churches  are  rarely  frequented  by  the  poor  or  by 
the  uncultured  people. 

The  Universalists  by  their  announcement  of  eternal  salva- 
tion to  all  men  have  obtained  many  followers,  but  they  are  met 
by  violent  opposition  on  the  part  of  the  Methodists  and  the 
Presbyterians. 

Socinianism  or  Unitarianism,  which  denies  the  Divinity  of 
Jesus  Christ,  has  also  its  supporters,  especially  in  that  class  that 
believes  itself  the  most  independent  and  sensible.  The 
ministers  of  this  heresy  indulge  in  the  most  vain-glorious  mode 
of  oratory. 

Luther  has  not  much  to  boast  of  in  America ;  his  adherents 
generally  assume  the  title  of  "The  Reformed  Lutherans,"  and 
a  good  number  of  the  German  Lutherans,  who  are  immigrants, 
give  up  the  sect  in  which  they  were  trained  but  which  they 
never  have  understood,  to  follow  others  more  after  the  man- 
ner of  the  present  day. 

In   addition   to  those  already   enumerated,   various   other 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    327 

sects  are  to  be  found  in  the  United  States,  such  as  the  Trini- 
tarians, the  Quakers,  the  Campbellites,  the  Mormons,  the 
Millerites  and  many  others,  who,  however,  taken  separately, 
do  not  form  large  communities,  nor  are  they  found  in  every 
part  of  the  Republic.  The  divisions  existing  in  all  the  Prot- 
estant sects  have  also  served  to  increase  the  confusion :  for 
example,  there  are  the  Methodist  Protestants,  the  Methodist- 
Episcopalians,  the  Independent  Methodists,  the  Presbyterians 
of  the  Old  School,  the  Presbyterians  of  the  New  School,  the 
Baptist  Protestant,  the  Baptist  Episcopalian,  and  so  on.  No 
religions  whatsoever,  when  supported  and  promulgated  by 
Biblical  fanaticism  or  by  secret  pecuniary  or  political  interests 
of  any  expert  hypocrites,  will  ever  fail  to  make  proselytes. 
The  people  like  a  flock  without  a  shepherd  go  here  and  there  to 
listen  to  him  who  can  offer  them  agreeable  speeches.  The 
famous  Miller  who  was  preaching  in  1842  that  the  world  would 
come  to  an  end  the  following  year,  everywhere  drew  crowds  to 
hear  him.  The  soul  outside  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  is 
at  the  mercy  of  all  the  wild  fancies  of  false  prophets,  and  that 
appears  to  verify  the  prophetic  words  of  Saint  Paul  to 
Timothy :  "There  shall  be  a  time  when  they  will  not  endure 
sound  doctrine,  but  according  to  their  own  desires  they  will 
heap  to  themselves  teachers,  having  itching  ears.  And  will 
indeed  turn  away  their  hearing  from  the  truth,  but  will  be 
turned  unto  fables."     II  Tim.  IV,  3-4. 

One  who  with  the  help  of  long  experience  has  studied  the 
predominating  spirit  in  America,  knows  that  one-third  of  its 
inhabitants  do  not  profess  and  do  not  believe  in  any  par- 
ticular creed  but  are  satisfied  simply  with  attending  a  Church 
whenever  circumstances  require  and  with  living  as  far  as  pos- 
sible in  an  absolute  religious  indifference,  not  even  in  the 
false  supposition  that  simple  natural  goodness  destitute  of  all 
the  helps  of  Faith  suffice  to  secure  for  him  future  happiness. 

The  clergy  employed  by  the  many  Baptist  sects  is  com- 
posed of  persons  of  all  classes  of  society,  and  it  would  seem 
almost  an  impossibility  for  the  Protestant  people  to  supply 
their  needs  and  those  of  the  large  families  by  which  they 


328    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

are  usually  surrounded.  Those  of  their  ministers  who  preach 
regularly  to  one  congregation  receive  therefrom  a  salary  suited 
to  the  place  and  to  the  circumstances ;  those  stationed  in  newly 
settled  sections  or  who  have  no  fixed  abode  are  commonly 
considered  as  missionaries  and  in  that  case  receive  for  the 
most  part  an  annual  sum  from  their  respective  religious 
societies. 

For  propagating  the  doctrines  of  each  of  the  sects  there 
are  societies  founded  with  considerable  endowments — by 
the  voluntary  contributions  of  members  of  the  sect;  in  this 
way  they  provide  for  the  needs  of  the  preachers, — as  well  as 
for  the  printing  of  Bibles,  of  various  other  books  and  a  great 
number  of  religious  periodicals  and  lastly  for  the  establish- 
ments of  their  missions  in  the  districts  inhabited  by  the  Indian 
tribes. 

In  the  United  States  the  number  of  their  ministers  includ- 
ing also  their  wives  and  children  is  at  least  four  times  that 
of  the  Catholic  Clergy  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  mem- 
bers of  the  Protestant  and  Catholic  communities  respectively. 
This  is  very  nearly  the  relation  in  which  they  stand  in  other 
countries  also  where  the  sectarians  are  in  the  majority.  The 
duties  of  the  ministers  consist  principally  in  saying  prayers 
and  in  preaching,  while  the  Priests  of  the  Altar,  in  addition 
to  preaching  must  devote  almost  all  their  time  to  visiting  the 
sick,  to  hearing  Confessions,  to  administering  other  Sacra- 
ments, and  to  assuming  the  responsibility  of  building  the 
Temples  of  the  Lord. 

From  this  we  may  draw  the  conclusion  that  non-Catholics 
are  unjust  in  finding  fault  with  the  great  number  of  Priests 
and  Religious  previous  to  the  Reformation,  since  in  their 
place,  a  much  more  numerous  clergy  with  the  addition  of  their 
families  must  now  be  maintained,  and  from  their  people  receive 
in  return  only  a  number  of  sermons.  A  certain  Mr.  Southey, 
a  Protestant  writer,  speaking  of  the  Methodists,  relates 
that,  in  the  single  county  of  Middlesex,  England,  one  magis- 
trate in  the  course  of  six  years  granted  licenses  to  one  thou- 
sand four  hundred  ministers  of  that  sect;  moreover  he  as- 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    329 

sures  us  that  "these  consist  of  wandering  adventurers  of  all 
degrees  ranging  between  knavery  and  madness,  and  who 
devoted  themselves  to  preaching  as  a  prosperous  business." 
See  how  Protestantism  in  general  finds  itself  overburdened 
with  the  immense  number  of  its  clergy. 

Although  in  the  great  cities,  as  New  York,  Philadelphia, 
Baltimore,  Boston,  Cincinnati  and  others,  the  sectarians 
possess  some  vast,  costly  edifices,  yet  the  Protestant  Houses  of 
Worship  are  in  general  far  inferior  to  the  Catholic  Churches. 
This  results  from  the  difference  in  worship :  the  Church  of  the 
non-Catholic  is  a  meeting  place  for  the  people  to  listen  to 
preaching,  to  sing  some  hymns  in  English  and  to  say  prayers; 
before  and  after  these  functions  the  structure  is  only  a  great 
empty  hall.  The  Church  of  the  Catholic  while  serving  for  the 
celebration  of  the  Holy  Sacrifice,  and  filled  day  and  night 
with  the  adorable  Presence  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the  Most  Holy 
Sacrament,  is  forever  the  House  of  Prayer  and  the  Lord's 
Tabernacle  with  men.  Protestants  who  are  not  totally  indif- 
ferent or  not  blinded  by  prejudice  against  the  Faith  when 
entering  a  Catholic  Church  cannot  help  finding  there  that  con- 
viction of  the  holy  and  mysterious,  sought  for  in  vain  in  the 
places  of  their  own  religious  meetings. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  PRESS,  PREACHING,  EDUCATION  OF  PROT- 
ESTANTS OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THEIR 
RELATION    TO    THE    CATHOLIC    CHURCH. 

For  the  better  understanding  of  the  relation  that  Catho- 
licity bears  to  the  various  sects  in  this  country,  one  must  keep 
in  mind  what  has  already  been  said  upon  this  subject  in  another 
chapter,  namely  that  the  Government  is  entirely  separated 
from  all  their  forms  of  religious  belief  while  at  the  same  time 
it  protects  individuals  in  the  exercise  of  the  duties  prescribed 
by  their  particular  creeds.  From  this  results  that  continuous 
and  vigorous  defence  of  the  dogmas  of  all  the  sects, — carried 
on  by  the  ministers  in  their  different  Churches  and  also 
through  the  medium  of  the  press.  Each  religious  body  has  its 
own  religious  periodicals  in  many  sections  of  the  Republic, 
which  serve  as  fortresses  armed  to  defend  them  from  the 
arguments  of  their  enemies.  The  various  works,  Biblical,  dog- 
matic, moral,  historical  and  ascetical,  published  by  all  these 
6ects,  would  form  an  immense  library.  In  America  where 
the  whole  population  speak  the  English  language,  and  speak 
it  as  they  write  it,  without  the  corruption  of  different  dia- 
lects, writers  on  religious  subjects  especially  are  very  nu- 
merous, and  the  misunderstood  liberty  of  the  press  and  the 
passion  for  reading  among  the  people  culminate  in  the  fact 
that  truth  and  falsehood,  praise  and  calumny,  virtue  and  vice 
all  find  in  the  press  a  mighty  protector  which  insinuates  itself 
into  every  house. 

The  general  aim  of  Protestant  writers  in  religious  works 
is  to  set  forth  their  own  doctrine  and  to  defend  it  from  argu- 
ments in  opposition  thereto ;  and  herein  is  a  formidable  ob- 
stacle   to    Catholicity    for    it    finds    the    intelligence    of    the 

[330] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    331 

sectarians  already  possessed  by  false  principles.  Then,  too, 
the  religious  journals  and  books  are  not  satisfied  to  confine 
themselves  within  the  realm  of  Protestantism,  but  they 
fall  furiously  upon  the  Catholic  Church  and  accuse 
her  of  boundless  errors,  they  cover  her  with  calumnies,  with 
false  explanations  of  her  faith,  they  deride  her  doctrines, 
her  practices,  her  ceremonies,  her  Priests.  Not  even  that  is 
enough  to  satisfy  the  anti-Catholic  spirit.  Every  item  of  scan- 
dal that  the  history  of  ages  past  is  able  to  furnish,  is  em- 
ployed by  the  sectarian  press  to  the  condemnation  of  the 
Church  of  Jesus ;  and  if  peradventure  the  news  of  any  fault  in 
the  Clergy,  or  even  the  suspicion  of  a  fault  reaches  their  ears, 
they  are  ever  on  the  alert,  through  the  same  medium,  to  give 
it  the  widest  possible  publicity. 

Since  perfect  freedom  of  worship  is  inseparable  from 
freedom  of  the  press,  the  foes  of  Catholicity  constantly  avail 
themselves  of  the  latter  to  wage  against  the  Church  that  ter- 
rible warfare,  which  is  the  spiritual  destruction  of  souls  not 
well  grounded  in  piety, — by  making  them  hard,  indifferent, — 
which  confirm  many  in  their  errors  by  destroying  any  means 
of  finding  out  the  truth.  It  is  the  fact  that  in  almost  every 
religious  work  printed  by  the  Protestants  in  America,  some- 
thing is  found  which  directly  or  indirectly,  attacks  the  Catholic 
Faith,  and  thus  verifies  that  word  spoken  by  Jesus  Christ, 
"He  who  is  not  with  Me,  is  against  Me." 

The  fact  that  in  this  country,  the  faithful  are  always  and 
everywhere  in  the  closest  communication  with  the  sectarians, 
is  the  cause  of  that  bitter  contest  kept  alive  among  them  not 
only  in  the  newspapers,  but  even  by  the  living  voice  of  their 
ministers.  The  majority  of  these  believe  that  they  are  ren- 
dering a  service  to  Almighty  God  by  preaching  against  the 
Catholics  and  for  this  reason  there  are  fanatics  both  in  town 
and  in  country,  in  this  manner  giving  full  vent  to  their  supreme 
ignorance,  as  well  as  to  the  religious  hatred  with  which  in 
their  blindness  they  are  filled.  The  Methodists  and  Baptists 
distinguish  themselves  by  their  enthusiasm  in  this  manner  of 
preaching.     The  Presbyterians,  and  some  of  the  Episcopalians 


332    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

with  a  few  others  mingle  some  degree  of  learning  with  their 
anticatholic  harangues.  Telling  of  idolatrous  practices  of  the 
Catholics,  of  their  aversion  to  the  Bible,  of  the  Pope  as  Anti- 
Christ, — predicting  the  destruction  of  Catholicity  which  they 
term  the  "Babylon  of  the  Apocalypse,"  and  the  like, — all 
this  serves  for  very  many  of  these  false  prophets  as  the  salt  to 
season  their  discourses,  and  as  the  profound  erudition  where- 
with to  render  the  same  interesting  and  eloquent.  After  so 
many  years  of  this  kind  of  frenzied  preaching,  the  Protestant 
public  seems  now  to  have  grown  tired  of  listening  to  it;  the 
excesses  into  which  many  famous  ministers  have  fallen  in  their 
controversial  discourses  have  brought  about  a  reaction  in  favor 
of  Catholicity,  and  thus  many  persons  of  sincere  and  candid 
souls  are  now  giving  their  attention  to  the  study  thereof. 

The  Protestant  people  in  America  might  be  considered  as 
enthusiasts  on  the  subject  of  sermons, — and  for  this  reason 
that  they  consider  preaching  as  the  most  important  and  indis- 
pensable feature  of  their  religion ;  for  in  nearly  all  their 
churches  there  are  two  sermons  on  Sunday, — and  also  on  two 
or  three  days  during  the  week.  There  is  prayer  and  singing 
of  hymns  both  before  and  after  each  discourse.  Where  the 
Catholics  have  the  Altar,  they  have  a  pulpit  bearing  a  large 
Bible.  Some  of  the  ministers  read  their  discourses,  others 
speak  out  of  the  fulness  of  their  emotions.  Some  of  these  are 
eloquent,  but  the  greater  number  lose  themselves  in  a  confusion 
of  words,  comparisons,  repetitions,  exclamations,  sighs  and 
pointless  arguments.  In  the  country  places  and  sparsely 
populated  districts  are  found  the  most  ignorant  preachers, 
entirely  destitute  of  the  knowledge  indispensable  to  the  instruc- 
tion of  others ;  their  practice  of  speaking  with  extraordinary 
facility  and  of  extemporizing  prayers  suffices  to  keep  them 
busily  occupied,  here  and  there,  in  the  people's  houses, — in 
granaries  and  in  open  air.  There  are  many  engaged  in  the 
ministry  who  at  the  same  time  cultivate  the  land,  carry  on  some 
trade  or  even  practice  medicine,  law,  follow  some  busi- 
ness, etc. 

None  of  these  sects  possesses  what  the  Catholics  call  the 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELL1,  O.  P.    333 

Sacrament  of  Holy  Orders,  although  in  some  of  their  books 
the  word  Ordination  is  found  with  some  prayers  attached. 
The  ministers  are  elected  by  the  people  or  announce  that  they 
have  received  an  interior  call  to  preach,  or  else  after  being 
trained  in  some  institution,  they  subsequently  receive  a  human 
authorization  in  various  ways  from  other  ministers.  All  this, 
however,  does  not  hinder  many  of  them  from  giving  up  the 
ministry  whenever  they  wish,  in  order  to  earn  their  bread  by 
other  occupations. 

Many  of  the  Protestant  prejudices  regarding  the  Church 
are  instilled  into  the  children  in  the  schools,  where  the  tender 
youth  receive  from  the  elementary  books,  from  the  authority 
of  the  teachers  and  from  perverted  use  of  Holy  Scripture 
those  false  principles  upon  which  rest  their  religious  beliefs. 
Here,  too,  must  be  noted  the  fact  that  children  guided  by  this 
mistaken  idea  of  civil  liberty, — without  judgment  and  discern- 
ment, as  they  are,  believe  that  here,  in  a  special  manner,  are 
they  free  in  whatever  pertains  to  religion  and  they  suppose 
that  this  is  one  point  concerning  which  neither  parents  nor 
teachers  can  use  any  authority, — but  that  upon  themselves 
rests  the  entire  responsibility  of  searching  for  it  in  the  Bible. 
The  outcome  of  such  a  fundamental  principle  is  for  the  most 
part  insubordination  towards  the  parents,  and  no  piety,  espe- 
cially in  the  boys  who  form  for  themselves  their  own  code  of 
morals.  All  this  diametrically  opposed  as  it  is  to  the  spirit  of 
Catholicity,  gives  rise  in  youth  naturally  inclined  to  evil, 
obstinate  hatred  for  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  and  for  her 
Clergy. 

The  reader  can  readily  perceive  the  lamentable  consequences 
of  that  education  that  teaches  such  liberty  of  thought  to  the 
rising  generation.  The  warnings  of  conscience  are  stifled  by 
the  spirit  of  arrogance  and  absolute  independence;  contempt 
for  any  religious  authority  carries  with  it  contempt  for  the 
Faith  and  finally  indifference  and  unbelief.  This  last  has 
never  been  so  triumphant  since  Christianity  was  first  preached 
to  the  world,  as  it  has  been  since  the  preaching  of  Protestant- 
ism— a  wonderful  historical  fact.     O,  if  the  world  were  only 


334    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

wise  enough  to  judge  by  the  fruits,  according  to  the  Rule  laid 
down  by  our  Saviour,  then  casting  one  glance  over  the  history 
of  the  past  it  would  behold  the  monster  of  unbelief  emerging 
in  the  sixteenth  century,  under  the  mantle  of  religious 
reformation.  And  when  this  monster  out  of  its  countless 
contradictory  interpretations  of  the  Bible,  had  built  a  tower 
wherein  reigns  greater  confusion  than  Babel's,  it  gradually 
cast  away  the  mask  of  Faith  to  raise  the  standard  of  deism 
under  which  many  Catholics  themselves,  perfidious,  took 
refuge. 

Notwithstanding  the  immense  influence  of  the  press,  of 
the  preaching  and  of  the  training  of  Protestantism  in  the 
United  States,  the  liberty  of  the  Catholic  Church  is  preserved 
inviolable,  and  under  the  eyes  of  the  most  fanatical  is  able 
to  erect  temples  to  the  Lord,  to  practise  its  worship  and  spread 
its  own  doctrines  by  the  very  same  mediums,  that  is  by  the 
press,  by  preaching  and  by  education.  For  this,  it  is  not  the 
spirit  animating  most  of  the  sectarians  that  deserves  thanks, 
but  that  law  granted  by  a  government  which  guarantees  to 
the  Catholics,  rights  and  liberty  of  conscience. 

It  would  be  a  serious  omission  not  to  record  here  that  at 
least  one  third  of  the  citizens  in  America,  from  the  principle 
of  indifference  or  interest  or  rather  from  the  belief  that  the 
difference  of  religions  is  an  affair  of  little  importance,  love 
the  Catholics  as  brethren  in  Faith.  And  in  consequence  they 
lend  themselves  to  the  building  of  our  churches,  of  our 
charitable  institutions  and  to  supplying  the  needs  of  our 
Priests,  to  whom  they  show  a  religious  respect ;  more  than 
this  they  prefer  to  have  their  sons  educated  in  Catholic  Schools 
and  Colleges  but  especially  to  have  their  daughters  trained  in 
the  Convents. 

There  is  another  numerous  class  of  individuals  who  quite 
well  versed  in  the  truths  of  Faith  from  constant  reading  of 
the  publications  that  treat  of  them,  or  from  the  fact  of 
associating  with  eminent  and  well-instructed  Catholics  openly 
declare  themselves  sincere  friends  and  protectors  of  the  Holy 
Church,  yet  without  professing  her  doctrines.     These  men  in 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    335 

their  hearts  despise  Protestantism  with  all  its  calumnies  and 
hostility  against  the  Catholics;  but  influenced  by  self  interest, 
by  the  desire  to  hold  the  first  offices  in  the  Republic,  by  pride 
or  other  motive,  live  outside  the  bosom  of  the  Church,  yet 
with  a  secret  determination  or  lively  hope  to  die  Catholics. 
Divine  Mercy  often  calls  these  souls  to  Itself  before  their 
passage  to  eternity,  for  their  deeds  of  charity  practised  towards 
the  clergy,  towards  the  Church,  towards  the  maintenance  of 
works  of  public  benevolence. 


CHAPTER  IV 

CATHOLIC  MISSIONS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

After  discussing  the  Spirit  of  Protestantism,  the  sects  and 
their  various  modes  of  warfare  against  Catholicity  in  the 
United  States,  it  seems  fitting  to  speak  here  of  the  Catholic 
mission  in  these  places,  in  order  to  make  known  the  great 
extent  of  the  duties  of  its  Priesthood  in  relation  to  these  sects 
with  whom  they  are  in  such  close  contact. 

First  of  all,  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  the  most 
important  mission  of  the  Catholic  in  this  great  Republic,  is  not 
among  the  Indian  tribes,  for  as  we  have  already  seen  in  the 
course  of  this  narrative,  these  tribes  have  been  driven  towards 
the  west  and  in  the  course  of  the  emigration,  by  reason  of 
their  contact  with  the  Americans,  they  are  gradually  becom- 
ing decimated  by  disease,  by  ill-treatment,  by  vice  and  by 
want,  to  such  a  degree  that,  by  the  end  of  another  century,  the 
savage  will  have  well  nigh  disappeared  from  the  face  of  this 
vast  country,  extending  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  from 
Canada  to  Mexico.  The  unexampled  increase  of  the  popula- 
tion of  the  United  States  (12,852,858  in  1830,  and  now  in 
1844  more  than  18,000,000),  the  extent  of  the  land  which  they 
have  settled  and  that  yet  greater  extent  waiting  to  be  settled, 
the  unity  of  the  government,  of  language,  of  customs,  of 
political  issues,  the  unlimited  freedom  of  worship,  the  univer- 
sal intelligence  among  the  people,  the  progress  in  education,  in 
commerce,  in  the  arts,  and  in  everything  that  can  quickly 
render  a  nation  great  and  powerful, — all  these  are  the  existing 
circumstances  of  the  American  Republic,  now  held  as  one  of 
the  foremost  nations  of  the  world,  with  every  probability  of 
becoming  before  the  close  of  this  century,  the  most  numerous 

[336] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    337 

among  the  civilized  peoples  of  the  world  and  second  to  none 
in  intelligence  and  in  power. 

From  all  this  it  is  an  easy  thing  to  comprehend  of  what 
importance  to  Catholicity  would  be  an  efficacious  mission 
among  the  commingled  mass  of  different  nationalities  that  com- 
pose this  young  nation.  Here,  the  ministers  of  Jesus  Christ 
everywhere  find  great  numbers  of  the  faithful  who  have  come 
from  Europe,  and  who  in  the  midst  of  general  corruption, 
if  not  promptly  assisted,  will  lose  the  right  principles  imbibed 
in  infancy.  Moreover,  four-fifths  of  the  inhabitants  profess- 
ing either  a  false  creed  or  shameful  indifference  offer  a  bound- 
less field  to  the  zeal  and  learning  of  the  clergy.  Here  is  the 
immense,  the  laborious,  the  lasting  mission  of  the  Priests  of 
the  United  States.  But,  humanly  speaking,  unless  the  work 
of  conversion  to  the  Faith,  and  the  fervor  and  the  charity 
among  the  Catholics  themselves  are  not  reanimated,  all  will  be 
dragged  down  to  that  unbelief  which,  at  this  very  moment  is 
giving  signs  of  its  dominion  over  a  great  part  of  the  nation. 

In  Europe,  the  Church  with  the  great  number  of  her  clergy, 
with  her  learning,  with  her  magnificent  religious  and  literary 
foundations,  and  with  the  assistance  of  the  example  and 
influence  of  powerful  families  is  now,  and  will  be,  in  a  state 
to  oppose  this  malign  spirit ;  such  is  not  the  case,  however,  in 
the  United  States  where  error  has  more  power  in  the  number 
of  followers,  and  the  financial  support  it  receives ;  while 
Catholicity,  with  only  a  small  number  scattered  over  an  im- 
mense country,  with  few  Priests  supported  precariously,  is 
hardly  yet  born,  so  to  speak,  in  the  midst  of  its  enemies,  and 
opposed  to  all  the  obstacles  that  false  creeds,  the  spirit  of 
self-interest,  bad  example  and  the  small  number  of  the  clergy 
can  oppose  to  its  advance.  One  in  whose  heart  burns  the 
flame  of  pure  love  for  Truth,  and  who  understands  the  posi- 
tion of  our  holy  Religion  in  America  cannot  but  tremble  for  its 
future. 

It  is  true  that  almost  every  Priest  has  received  many 
sectarians  into  the  bosom  of  the  Church,  and  that  these  form  a 
considerable  number,  a  consolation  to  the  heart  of  the  true 


338    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

believer,  but  it  is  also  true  that  very  many  Catholics  have 
yielded  to  the  spirit  of  indifference.  Speaking  without  exag- 
geration of  facts,  the  number  of  Catholics  compared  with  the 
entire  population  of  the  country  and  in  spite  of  the  number 
of  converts  and  of  the  many  faithful  who  have  emigrated 
from  Europe,  is  no  greater  than  it  was  many  years  ago.  In 
a  few  States  and  cities  the  increase  is  greater  than  in  others, 
but  this  fact  is  balanced  throughout  the  country,  by  the 
increase  in  the  number  of  Protestant  inhabitants  in  places 
where  the  faithful  are  almost  unknown. 

This  situation  although  it  may  intimidate  souls  zealous  in 
propagating  the  Faith,  should  stimulate  the  spirit  of  prayer 
and  of  charity  in  believing  souls,  and  should  animate  the 
ministers  of  the  Sanctuary  to  greater  efforts  in  their  holy  and 
sublime  career  of  preaching  the  Gospel  and  adorning  it  with 
their  example  of  all  virtues. 

The  Lord  Who  is  rich  in  mercy,  has  provided  efficacious 
means  for  spreading  the  Truths  of  the  Gospel  throughout  the 
United  States.  The  War  of  Independence  in  the  last  century, 
freeing  this  country  from  the  domination  of  England  would 
seem  to  be  in  the  designs  of  Divine  Wisdom,  a  means,  first, 
of  granting  perfect  freedom  to  Religion,  and  secondly  of 
promoting  emigration  of  many  Catholic  families  from  Europe, 
who  have  served  in  a  wonderful  manner  to  establish  and  diffuse 
the  Faith  in  far  distant  regions.  The  civil  rights  enjoyed  by 
the  Catholics  equally  with  the  Protestants,  prevents  any  and  all 
oppression  on  the  part  of  the  laws  and  enables  the  former  as 
well  as  the  latter  to  hold  the  foremost  offices  of  the  Republic. 
This  state  of  affairs  was  in  part  the  reason  why  many  Priests 
from  Europe  were  brought  to  those  Missions ;  moreover  it 
facilitated  the  erection  of  Bishoprics,  the  building  of  many 
Churches,  the  establishment  of  Seminaries,  of  Religious  Com- 
munities, of  Religious  Schools,  of  Educational  Institutions. 

In  addition  to  all  this,  Catholicity  in  America  has  at  its 
disposal,  the  unlimited  use  of  the  same  weapons  that  Prot- 
estantism employs  to  oppose  it,  and  the  attentive  observer  will 
find  that  this  fact  perhaps  stands  unique  in  the  world.     Both 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    339 

Truth  and  Error  have  in  turn  been  granted  by  the  world  a 
position  most  advantageous  for  their  own  defence;  that  is, 
certain  privileges  enjoyed  by  one  and  denied  to  the  other  or 
perhaps,  one  of  the  two  has  been  utterly  proscribed  or  sub- 
jected to  certain  restrictions  by  the  ruling  power.  But  here  in 
this  country  under  a  Republican  government,  Faith  and  heresy 
under  all  possible  forms  have  been  set  as  it  were  on  a  vast 
open  plain,  while  the  press,  liberty  of  preaching  and  of  teach- 
ing, the  most  powerful  weapons  employed  by  Protestantism 
against  the  Church,  are  yet  as  freely  made  use  of  by  Christ 
Himself  in  order  to  vanquish  error  and  establish  the  dominion 
of  Truth. 

Catholicity  in  the  United  States  owes  much  to  the  press. 
The  Church  has  published  a  great  number  of  works,  dog- 
matic, moral  and  ascetic,  has  responded  at  once  to  any  calumny 
or  reproach  made  by  its  enemies,  and  these  enemies  although 
free  to  print  whatever  they  devise,  are  in  a  great  measure  held 
in  check  by  the  certainty  that  the  Catholics  are  both  ready  and 
effective  in  their  publications.  The  Protestant  may  preach  in 
the  Churches,  in  the  homes,  in  the  open  air,  whatever,  when- 
ever and  however  it  may  please  him,  but  the  Catholic  Priest 
may  if  he  chooses  do  likewise  in  propagating  the  Truths  of  an 
holy  Religion.  The  absolute  freedom  in  educational  matters 
leaves  to  the  Church  the  superintendence  of  her  own  day 
schools  and  her  colleges,  and  for  the  erection  of  the  buildings 
there  is  no  permission  required  from  the  civil  power ;  the  sub- 
jects to  be  taught,  the  books,  the  teachers,  the  system  of  teach- 
ing, are  matters  considered  as  the  exclusive  and  independent 
rights  of  whoever  proposes  to  teach  the  young. 

We  see  that  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  was  destined  to 
combat  error  in  its  every  possible  relation  to  the  power  of 
the  world.  In  the  first  centuries  it  had  for  opponent,  Pagan- 
ism supported  by  all  the  power  of  the  State;  thence  in  the 
Middle  Ages  it  had  to  face  the  fall  of  empires,  the  barbarous 
nations  who  were  devastating  Europe,  and  all  the  revolutions 
and  changes  of  government  that  succeeded ;  then,  when  within 
her  own  bosom  actual  monarchies  arose,  the  Church  found 


340    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

herself  the  living  Centre  midst  the  kingdoms  of  earth; — but 
these  quickly  took  the  ascendency  and  separated  themselves 
either  entirely  or  partially  from  her  supremacy :  from  this  it 
happens,  that  while  embracing  the  whole  world,  she  in  her 
wisdom  adapts  herself  to  the  various  powers  of  the  world. 
In  the  United  States,  however,  the  Faith  is  left  alone  and  with- 
out the  least  assistance  or  opposition  from  the  government,  to 
fight  any  Religious  error  under  precisely  the  same  circum- 
stances. Thus  the  propagation  of  evangelical  truth,  depends 
exclusively  upon  the  force  of  the  truth,  the  zeal,  the  learning, 
and  the  sanctity  of  the  Clergy,  to  whom  has  been  entrusted 
the  vast  mission  of  calling  the  many  millions  of  sectarians  to 
the  bosom  of  Catholic  Unity. 

It  must  come  to  pass  that  in  the  struggle  between  Catho- 
licity and  Protestantism  under  a  government  where  every- 
thing is  printed,  everything  preached,  everything  taught  by  the 
two  participants,  the  followers  of  error  must  eventually  submit 
and  profess  the  truth,  or  else  reject  every  system  of  Religion 
and  abandon  themselves  to  unbelief  which  is  in  its  results  but 
little  removed  from  paganism.  Whenever  the  majority  are 
reduced  to  that  condition  the  time  will  be  near  when  in  spite 
of  laws  existing  regarding  liberty  of  worship,  the  Church  will 
be  subjected  even  in  this  Republic  to  restrictions  and  probably 
to  persecutions.  The  reason  why  this  is  not  the  case  at 
present,  must  be  looked  for  not  in  the  nature  of  Protestantism 
but  in  the  number  and  mutual  antagonism  of  the  sects;  but 
unbelief  firmly  rooted  in  the  majority  of  the  people,  would 
hardly  be  satisfied  to  leave  to  Catholicity  the  weapons  for 
opposing  it,  if  it  had  the  power  of  seizing  them  by  force.  On 
the  contrary,  should  the  Faith  prevail,  one  cannot  easily  pre- 
dict the  beneficent  influence  that  it  would  exercise  not  only  in 
America, — which  before  the  next  century  dawns  will  doubt- 
less be  the  most  powerful  nation  of  the  world,  but  also  in 
other  countries  by  reason  of  America's  vast  commerce  over 
every  sea.  O,  who  will  not  pray  our  Father  in  Heaven  to 
take  away  from  the  eyes  of  men  the  veil  of  that  error  by  which 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    341 

they  are  being  drawn  into  indifference  and  unbelief!  Who 
will  not  sacrifice  his  time,  his  knowledge  and  even  his  life  that 
he  may  bring  to  the  Light  of  the  Gospel  those  who  redeemed 
by  the  Blood  of  Jesus  Christ  have  perverted  His  doctrine ! 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  PRIEST  IN  AMERICA. 

To  the  Clergy  of  the  United  States  more  than  to  that  of 
any  other  country  could  be  applied  the  prophecy  of  the  ven- 
erable Simeon  when  he  blessed  the  Infant  Jesus  and  Mary,  His 
Mother;  ''Behold  he  is  set  for  the  fall,  and  for  the  resurrection 
of  many  in  Israel,  and  for  a  sign  which  shall  be  contradicted." 
Luke  II,  34 ;  for  the  very  small  number  of  Priests  and  the  vital 
necessity  of  their  ministry  render  the  Catholic  Priests'  pres- 
ence in  the  midst  of  an  non-Catholic  population  a  matter  of 
the  greatest  importance  to  Religion.  By  the  faithful,  he  is 
regarded  as  the  chief  support  of  Truth  and  the  model  of 
Christian  life;  by  some  Protestants  he  is  adjudged  to  be  an 
impostor,  a  deceiver,  a  man  faithless  and  dangerous  to  society ; 
yet  others  look  at  him  with  respect  and  approach  him  in  order 
to  receive  information  of  a  religious  nature.  His  conduct  as 
regards  morality  either  confounds  or  delights  his  enemies ; 
set  upon  the  candlestick  of  the  Church  he  either  diffuses  the 
light  or  else  becomes  a  false  deceptive  flame ;  if  he  is  hated 
by  the  foes  of  Catholic  truth,  when  he  is  an  example  of 
virtue,  he  must  not  look  to  them  for  any  compassion  towards 
his  faults  but  he  may  expect  to  see  them  set  forth  in  the 
public  prints.  Thus  he  may  be  to  many  a  cause  of  spiritual 
destruction ;  to  others  an  efficacious  means  of  conversion  of 
sinners  and  souls  outside  the  Church. 

By  a  demeanor,  modest,  mild  and  courteous,  the  Priest  may 
be  able  to  assist  in  the  propagation  of  the  Faith,  but  a  manner 
frivolous,  or  of  too  great  exterior  coldness  that  resembles 
pride  will  not  win  confidence.  When  one  Religious  body 
comes  face  to  face  with  another,  the  manner  of  life,  the  virtues 
and   the  faults   of   the  missionaries   are   compared   with   the 

[342] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    343 

qualities  of  the  Protestant  ministers,  and  the  doctrine  is  often 
confused  with  the  preacher,  by  a  certain  ignorance  or  habit 
of  the  mind,  and  thus  it  happens  if  the  latter  is  held  to  be 
good,  so  also  will  his  doctrine  be  held  good  or  vice  versa.  To 
the  clergy  in  the  midst  of  sectarians  the  words  of  the  Prophet 
Isaias  are  in  a  special  manner  directed :  "Touch  no  unclean 
thing;  go  ye  out  of  the  midst  of  Babylon,  be  ye  clean,  ye  that 
carry  the  vessels  of  the  Lord."  The  Priest  is  often  the  lone 
worshipper  of  the  tremendous  Mysteries  of  Redemption,  and 
in  secret  bears  the  Most  Holy  Communion  to  the  sick  among 
his  people,  and  to  him  may  be  applied  those  other  words  of 
the  same  Prophet :  "I  have  spread  forth  my  hands  all  the 
day  to  an  unbelieving  people  who  walk  in  a  way  that  is  not 
good  after  their  own  thoughts."     LXV,  2. 

Among  the  virtues  absolutely  exacted  of  the  Priest  in 
America,  disinterestedness  is  not  the  least,  for  where  every- 
thing must  be  done,  churches  to  be  built,  Seminaries,  Religious 
Houses,  Schools,  Charitable  Institutions,  etc.,  and  where  the 
most  urgent  present  needs  are  far  beyond  the  pecuniary 
resources  of  the  place,  the  minister  of  the  Altar  must  devote 
his  stipend  entirely  to  the  fostering  of  worship.  His  own 
wealth  lies  in  the  Lord's  House  which  is  also  his  own  habita- 
tion. Whoever  would  seek  riches  elsewhere,  will  sooner  or 
later  bring  down  upon  himself  the  contempt  of  Protestants  and 
of  Catholics  as  well,  and  will  become  a  scandal  to  men. 

Sectarians  know  or  understand  absolutely  nothing  of  the 
spirit  of  the  Religious  ceremonies  of  the  Church,  so  are  ever 
and  always  inclined  to  despise  them ;  but  respect  for  Religion, 
is  most  surely  won  by  manifesting  in  one's  own  exterior, 
recollection,  the  liveliest  Faith  and  tenderest  piety  in  the  admin- 
istration of  all  the  Sacraments,  but  in  a  special  manner  in  the 
celebration  of  the  tremendous  Sacrifice  of  the  Altar,  so  vilified 
by  Protestants  There  are  occasions  when,  on  account  of  the 
presence  of  bystanders,  it  might  become  a  grievous  fault  to 
show  any  haste  in  the  ceremonies  of  the  Mass,  because  such 
a  lack  of  reverence  towards  the  Most  Holy  Sacrament,  might 


344    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

furnish  to  these  bystanders  a  motive  for  suspecting  that  the 
Priest  himself  does  not  believe  in  the  Real  Presence. 

The  building  of  Churches  to  establish  Catholic  Worship 
constitutes  a  most  important  office  of  the  Priesthood :  for  this 
object  is  demanded  the  highest  degree  of  disinterestedness, 
together  with  the  zeal  which  made  Saint  Paul  cry  out:  "I  do 
all  things  for  the  Gospel's  sake,  that  I  may  be  made  partaker 
thereof."  I  Cor.  IX,  23.  The  immense  obstacles  that  inter- 
fere with  the  erection  of  God's  Churches,  on  account  of  lack 
of  means  or  of  various  difficulties  with  workmen,  are  inex- 
haustible sources  of  merit  for  the  Priest,  who  is  often  humbled 
and  reduced  to  the  last  extremity  under  such  conditions,  and 
suffers  all  things  for  the  cause  of  diffusing  the  Faith. 

In  newly-settled  places,  the  Missionary  has  no  income,  and 
very  rarely  receives  a  stipend  for  the  Mass  so  he  is  reduced 
to  living  on  the  free  alms  of  the  faithful.  The  happy  results 
of  this  truly  evangelical  poverty  are  a  holy  confidence  in  the 
Lord,  and  conformity  with  the  life  of  his  Divine  Master;  from 
these  virtues  it  comes  to  pass  that  nothing  needful  can  be  lack- 
ing to  the  Priest.  Free  from  the  things  of  the  world,  he  com- 
mands the  respect  and  reverence  of  the  faithful  and  can  say 
with  Saint  Peter,  "Behold,  O,  Jesus,  we  have  left  all  things 
and  have  followed  Thee."     Matt.  XIX,  27. 

It  is  fitting  that  the  Priest  should  be  sufficiently  informed 
as  to  the  political  affairs  of  the  Republic  that  he  may  the  better 
fulfil  the  duties  of  his  vocation,  but  the  desire  of  availing  him- 
self of  his  rights  as  a  citizen  for  the  purpose  of  interfering  in 
elections  would  be  of  no  advantage  to  Catholicity  except  in 
the  case  of  a  necessary  defence  of  Religious  liberty,  if  it  should 
be  attacked  by  cunning  political  enemies  of  the  Church. 

The  conversion  of  unbelievers  is  to  be  brought  about  in  a 
great  measure  by  the  good  example  of  the  Clergy,  who  would 
speak  in  vain  if  they  did  not  make  the  eloquent  example  of 
Christian  virtues  precede  their  teaching  in  accordance  with 
that  beautiful  expression  that  we  read  in  the  first  verse  of  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles:  "Jesus  began  to  do  and  to  teach": 
that  is,  He  presented  in  His  life  a  perfect  model  of  the  heav- 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    345 

enly  doctrines  which  He  taught  to  His  disciples  during  the  last 
years  of  His  mortal  Life. 

The  preaching  of  the  Priests  of  irreproachable  lives  is  in 
the  United  States  a  most  powerful  means  of  calling  sectarians 
to  the  Unity  of  the  Faith.  In  the  case  of  souls  who  have  been 
seduced  by  false  principles,  and  by  the  insidious  arguments  of 
error  to  become  disciples  of  the  most  extravagant  doctrines, 
the  Missionary  should  be  guided  by  the  tenderest  compassion 
towards  the  souls  who  have  not  the  incomparable  grace  of 
being  born  in  the  bosom  of  the  true  Church.  Against  this  spirit 
of  charity  which  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  Himself  taught  us  in 
His  Preaching,  those  transgress  who  allow  themselves  to  be 
carried  away  by  ill  regulated  zeal  and  set  themselves  up  as 
judges,  condemning  with  severity  the  non-Catholics  without 
employing  that  sweetness  and  courtesy  whose  lack  only 
angers  instead  of  converting.  In  addition  to  the  knowledge  of 
Evangelical  Truths,  the  Priest  needs  a  deep  fund  of  erudi- 
tion which  will  enable  him  to  adapt  himself  to  the  intelligence 
of  all  sectarians,  according  to  their  false  or  limited  ideas  of 
Religion.  Their  education,  the  varied  creeds  of  the  sects,  the 
circumstances  of  life  and  the  personal  character  of  each  in- 
dividual, necessarily  give  a  varied  character  to  the  mental 
operations  in  Protestants,  their  modes  of  thinking,  of  reason- 
ing, of  allowing  themselves  to  believe  in  the  Divine  origin  of  the 
dogmas  of  our  holy  Religion :  therefore  there  is  need  that  the 
Preacher  of  the  Faith  imitate  the  example  of  the  great  Saint 
Paul :  "I  became  to  the  Jews  as  a  Jew,  that  I  might  gain  the 
Jews :  — to  them  that  were  without  law  as  if  I  were  without 
law, — that  I  might  gain  them  that  were  without  law.  To  the 
weak  I  became  weak  that  I  might  gain  the  weak.  I  became 
all  things  to  all  men,  that  I  might  save  all."     I  Cor.  IX,  20, 

21,  22. 

The  arguments  best  adapted  to  bring  deep  conviction  to 
Protestants  are  drawn  from  Holy  Writ,  from  reasoning  and 
from  the  history  of  the  Reformation  in  the  sixteenth  century ; 
and  to  respond  to  the  most  common  objections  against  the 
Church,  the  Priest  should  be  familiar  with  that  department 


346    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

of  the  history  which  records  the  abuses,  the  disorders  and 
scandals  which  dishonored  her  Sanctity  at  certain  epochs, — 
that  he  may  be  able  to  direct  the  censure  deserved,  to  the  guilty 
individuals  without  allowing  the  blame  to  fall  upon  the  Church 
Herself. 

In  the  Churches,  in  private  houses,  in  conversation,  in  the 
hotels,  in  journeys  by  land  or  sea,  everywhere  will  the  Mis- 
sionary find  occasion  for  defending  his  Religion  because  every- 
where, regardless  of  place  or  time  is  the  subject  discussed. 
Here  a  gentle  cheerfulness,  a  sweetness  and  readiness  of 
speech,  a  modest  and  becoming  demeanor,  confidence  in  God, 
and  zeal  for  the  salvation  of  others,  these  are  the  irresistible 
attractions  that  draw  the  throng  around  one  who  with  frank 
simplicity  is  vindicating  the  cause  of  Catholicity  in  face  of  its 
enemies.  Christian  prudence  also  will  teach  one  in  the  midst 
of  controversial  arguments  to  show  reasonable  consideration 
towards  political  conditions  of  the  United  States. 

If  the  saving  of  a  soul  is  held  by  ascetics  to  be  a  pledge 
of  one's  own  eternal  salvation,  oh,  what  consolation  must  fill 
the  heart  of  him  who  sees  at  times  in  the  conversion  of 
unbelievers,  the  sweet  fruit  of  all  his  toil.  Then  does  Christian 
hope  draw  near  to  the  divine  certainty  of  possessing  the 
Infinite  Good,  God  Himself  for  the  extension  of  whose  reign 
he  has  cooperated  as  a  happy  instrument,  by  calling  those  far 
off  to  a  share  in  the  merits  of  the  Redemption.  Here  is  a 
divine  reward,  even  in  this  world,  more  precious  by  far  than 
parents,  or  friends,  or  native  land,  or  honors,  or  riches.  Such 
a  sweet,  well-founded  hope  of  one's  salvation  may  be  called 
"The  treasure  hidden  in  a  field,"  of  which  Our  Saviour  spoke : 
''Which  a  man  having  found,  hid  it  and  for  joy  thereof  goeth 
and  selleth  all  that  he  hath,  and  buyeth  that  field."  Matt. 
XIII,  44. 

In  the  matter  of  seminaries  the  dioceses  of  America  are 
yet  in  their  infancy;  most  of  the  seminaries  having  been 
erected  very  recently,  many  dioceses  have  a  seminary  of  only 
a  small  number  of  students,  ten  or  twelve  perhaps.  The 
greatest  difficulty  in  the  way  of  establishing  them  lies  in  the 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    347 

want  of  funds  for  constructing  a  suitable  building  for  the 
support  of  both  Professors  and  clerics.  It  is  much  to  be 
desired  that  the  new  dioceses  of  the  Western  States  may  find 
some  benefactor  to  found  a  seminary  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis, 
whence  the  other  dioceses  could  be  supplied.  At  present  the 
Priests  of  the  United  States  are  for  the  most  European,  as 
are  also  the  Bishops :  France  and  Ireland  are  the  richest  in 
the  vocations.  The  Irish  Clergy  especially  have  always  been 
most  helpful  to  Religion  in  this  country,  on  account  of  the 
language,  their  political  ideas,  and  their  native  ardor;  often, 
therefore,  those  who  were  priests  for  many  years  in  their 
own  country,  are  satisfied  to  remain  in  American  dioceses. 


CHAPTER  VI 

RELIGIOUS  ORDERS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

The  people  of  the  United  States,  both  Catholic  and  Prot- 
estant make  little  distinction  between  the  simple  Priest  and 
one  who  is  a  member  of  a  Religious  Order,  since  they  recog- 
nize in  both  the  vocation  to  the  Priesthood,  and  vaguely  believe 
them  bound  to  fulfil  all  the  duties  belonging  to  their  state; 
therefore  it  matters  little  to  the  faithful  that  a  Priest  is  of  one 
Order  rather  than  another,  provided  only  that  they  devote 
themselves  to  the  teaching  of  the  truth  and  to  the  salvation 
of  souls. 

But  it  is  not  an  entirely  indifferent  matter  to  the  welfare 
of  the  Church  that  in  those  places  where  She  is  yet  young, 
those  Religious  Communities  which  are  the  work  of  the  Saints, 
have  been  established.  As  we  wish  to  treat  this  subject  only 
in  its  relation  to  America  it  will  be  observed  first  that  the 
nature  of  those  missions  is  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  Regular 
Orders.  In  consequence  of  the  peculiar  distractions  and  perils 
to  which  Priests  are  always  exposed  near  to  a  society  for  the 
most  part  non-Catholic  in  the  large  cities,  and  by  reason  also 
of  the  spirit  of  independence,  of  the  difficulty  of  preserving 
Ecclesiastical  discipline,  of  the  almost  secular  exterior  of  the 
Priest  in  America,  of  his  constant  dealings  with  worldly  per- 
sons and  of  many  other  circumstances  connected  with  the  exer- 
cise of  his  ministry, — on  account  of  all  this  we  consider  it  a 
matter  of  no  small  importance  to  have  a  body  of  clergy,  much 
more  strictly  bound  to  the  duties  of  their  vocation  by  means 
of  the  Vows  and  the  discipline  of  the  Religious  Orders.  In 
the  missions  of  countries  newly  settled,  where  everything 
is  lacking,  or  among  the  Indian  tribes  there  is  not  the  least 
doubt  that  according  to  experience  a  religious  body  is  always 

[348] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    349 

more  efficacious  than  a  few  isolated  Priests.  No  one  will 
deny  then  that  it  is  the  same  case  where  there  is  lack  of  means, 
of  everything  that  can  be  desired  for  the  establishment  of 
Colleges,  of  schools,  of  Religious  Houses  and  of  any  other 
Institution  directed  by  many  individuals.  The  Jesuits  have  the 
principal  colleges  in  America,  and  thus  render  the  greatest 
service  to  the  Catholic  Religion  and  often  too  convert  Prot- 
estant youth. 

These  vast  dioceses,  destitute  of  Priests  might  derive 
immense  benefit  from  the  Religious  Orders,  whose  indefatig- 
able zeal  and  pastoral  disinterestedness  are  always  unfailing 
sources  of  whatever  is  needful  to  the  propagation  and  beauty 
of  Religion.  As  the  Clergy  in  this  country  have  the  entire 
responsibility  of  Church  buildings,  whose  needs  increase  every 
day,  it  is  easy  to  see  what  a  Religious  body  could  accomplish 
in  this  respect  in  a  very  short  time. 

A  certain  exterior  regularity  in  the  manner  of  managing 
temporal  as  well  as  spiritual  affairs  besides  winning  the  respect 
and  confidence  of  the  people  would  make  the  Religious  Com- 
munity proceed  more  cautiously  in  assuming  for  Religion's 
sake  those  heavy  pecuniary  responsibilities  which  now  and 
then  through  lack  of  prudence  weigh  so  heavily  upon  the  most 
zealous  of  Priests. 

It  is  a  hard  lot  for  one  who  must  live  without  resources 
or  regular  revenue,  and  depend  entirely  upon  the  charity  of 
the  people;  but  if  he  were  member  of  a  Community  he  would 
have  a  moral  certainty  of  finding  assistance  in  urgent  cir- 
cumstances. 

When  a  Missionary  becomes  aged  or  infirm  or  is  in  need 
of  a  respite  from  labor,  it  is  not  easy  for  him  to  find  a  suitable 
place  of  retirement,  for  he  is  usually  destitute  of  means ;  while 
a  Priest  of  a  Regular  Order  has  always  a  holy  refuge  when 
age  approaches.  Thus  personal  disinterestedness  and  love 
for  the  Community  of  which  he  is  a  member  are  cherished  to 
the  benefit  of  the  salvation  of  souls,  the  one  object  of  every 
Institution  founded  by  a  Saint. 

Granting  as  some  do,  that  the  Religious  Orders  are  no 


350    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

longer  necessary  in  Catholic  countries,  where  there  are  a  suffi- 
cient number  of  good  Priests,  yet  they  are  of  the  greatest 
advantage  in  newly-settled  countries  because  there  Religion  is 
in  its  infancy,  and  in  need  of  everything.  But  even  in  America, 
Monks,  Brothers,  and  the  Regular  Clergy  would  be  of  little  help, 
should  they  make  their  Religious  life  consist  in  exercises 
purely  ascetic  and  conventual:  with  a  population  just  forming, 
and  in  great  part  Protestant  we  must  have  the  apostolic  or  at 
least  the  active  life.  The  vows,  the  holy  discipline  of  the 
cloister  must  serve  to  perfect  the  life  which  is  to  be  entirely 
employed  afterwards  in  the  sanctification  of  one's  neighbor. 

According  to  the  ideas  of  this  republican  and  enterprising 
people,  it  would  seem  almost  a  scandal  to  see  a  number  of 
Priests  shut  up  in  one  house,  and  thinking  only  of  their  own 
souls  without  making  an  effort  to  preach  the  Word  of  God 
throughout  the  country,  or  to  succor  the  spiritual  needs  of  the 
faithful.  In  the  United  States,  the  very  necessity  of  endeavor- 
ing to  procure  the  means  of  subsistence  serves  to  keep  our 
regular  clergy  also  in  the  active  life ; — if  it  were  otherwise  the 
faithful  would  lose  their  respect  for  them,  and  the  non- 
Catholics  would  seize  upon  the  occasion  to  censure  the 
Catholics. 

It  is  the  general  opinion  even  of  the  most  devout  Christians 
that  a  Priest  is  ordained  exclusively  for  fulfilling  all  the  duties 
pertaining  to  the  care  of  souls,  and  that  this  is  the  great  and 
divine  object  of  their  separation  from  the  world;  for  accord- 
ing to  the  words  of  the  great  apostle,  "Christ  had  given  to 
them  the  ministry  of  reconciliation — making  them  ambassadors 
for  Christ."     II  Cor.  V,  18,  20. 

In  the  Republic  of  the  United  States,  the  government  offi- 
cials, the  military  excepted,  have  no  external  distinction  in  the 
form  or  color  of  dress,  and  it  does  not  at  all  accord  with  the 
taste  of  the  citizens  to  see  an  extreme  singularity  in  the 
clergy,  who  certainly  ought  to  be  distinguished  by  a  certain 
plainness,  uniformity  and  simplicity  of  attire,  but  not  to  be 
rendered  extravagant  by  reproducing  the  costumes  of  centuries 
ago.     The  venerable  antiquity  of  a  Religious  Habit  and  the 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    351 

use  of  it  made  by  the  Saints  of  the  Orders  carries  no  con- 
viction to  persons  in  the  world,  for  they  would  argue  that  in 
the  case  under  question,  the  garb  worn  by  the  apostles  them- 
selves and  by  our  Saviour  Himself  ought  to  have  the  prefer- 
ence. But  without  further  discussion  on  the  matter,  this  fact 
remains,  though  the  perfect  liberty  of  the  country  and  the 
non-interference  of  the  government  in  personal  matters  leaves 
every  one  free  to  wear  whatever  garb  he  chooses,  all  the 
Bishops  and  all  the  Regular  Orders  that  exist  in  the  United 
States,  as  the  Dominicans,  the  Jesuits,  the  Augustinians,  the 
Redemptorists,  and  others,  conform  when  in  public  to  the 
simple  garb  of  the  clergy  in  general,  that  is  boots  or  high 
shoes,  trousers,  a  short  cassock,  or  coat  with  skirt  reaching 
midway  between  knee  and  ankle,  and  a  round  hat.  This  cos- 
tume is  convenient,  unassuming  and  is  sufficient  in  this  country 
to  distinguish  the  cleric  from  the  layman  and  it  helps  the 
cause  of  Religion,  which  ever  seeks  to  display  the  beauty  of 
the  Spirit  of  Unity,  even  outwardly  as  it  appears  midst  the 
confusion  of  the  many  sects.  These  latter  have  already  a 
thousand  objections  to  offer  in  criticism  of  the  sacerdotal 
vestments  and  the  many  ceremonies  of  the  Church  and  for  this 
reason  many  holy  and  zealous  Priests  in  America  as  well  as 
in  the  non-Catholic  countries  of  Europe  hold  it  a  matter  of 
prudence  not  to  present  new  difficulties  before  the  enemies  of 
the  Church  by  introducing  among  the  clergy  that  singular 
variety  in  the  matter  of  habits,  remembering  that  after  all,  it 
is  not  the  habit  that  makes  the  monk.  On  this  matter  it  seems 
that  almost  all  the  holy  Founders  adapted  themselves  to  the 
times  in  which  they  were  living:  the  Religious  Orders  of  the 
last  three  centuries  give  proof  of  this.  If  then  it  is  prudent 
to  preserve  in  Churches  and  in  Religious  Houses  the  use  of 
the  garb  of  the  cloister,  which  by  color  or  form  are  decidedly 
singular,  it  is  generally  a  question  of  no  importance  to  the 
propagation  of  the  Faith.  The  Protestants,  however,  cannot 
see  why  some  Priests  when  at  home,  dress  in  so  different 
a  manner  from  what  they  do  in  public,  and  even  the  faithful 
seem  not  to  comprehend  how  in  private  a  singular  Habit  is 


352    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

able  to  serve  the  greater  sanctification  of  Priests  on  the  Amer- 
ican Mission. 

It  is  much  to  be  desired  that  the  Religious  Orders  were 
more  numerous  in  the  United  States,  where  their  spirit  of 
disinterestedness,  of  unity  and  of  consecration  to  the  salva- 
tion of  the  neighbor  would  be  so  efficacious  an  instrument  for 
diffusing  and  preserving  the  Faith,  no  less  in  the  great  cities 
than  in  the  more  remote  districts.  And  if  there  are  any 
Orders  unproductive  on  this  point,  it  is  because  sometimes 
being  too  closely  occupied  in  the  purely  monastic  discipline 
they  seem  sometimes  to  have  lost  sight  of  the  great  aim  of 
their  Saintly  Founders,  which  was  the  salvation  of  one's 
neighbor.  It  is  not  numerous  or  wealthy  convents  that  are 
needed,  but  active,  zealous  Priests  devoted  exclusively  to  the 
sublime  duties  of  their  ministry ;  these  duties  which  by  means 
of  doctrine,  regular  observance,  fraternal  love  and  detachment 
from  the  world  are  the  rule  and  guide  of  the  faithful  amidst 
a  people  who  oppose  virtue  and  present  a  thousand  opportuni- 
ties for  evil-doing;  that  is,  there  are  needed  Religious  Com- 
munities consecrated  to  the  obligations  of  the  Priesthood,  not 
Priests  consecrated  to  the  Communities.  How  great  detriment 
to  the  propagation  of  the  Faith  is  that  want  of  real  charity 
that  unites  the  members  of  all  the  Orders  into  one  single  heart, 
will  be  easily  comprehended  by  one  animated  by  the  true 
Spirit  of  Jesus  Christ. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  SISTERS  OF  CHARITY. 

Almighty  God  in  His  Mercy  and  Wisdom  Infinite  provides 
for  the  spiritual  needs  of  His  people,  adapts  the  means  to  the 
circumstances  of  those  upon  whom  He  pours  down  His  graces. 
Early  in  the  seventeenth  century  He  inspired  the  glorious  Saint 
Vincent  de  Paul  to  found  the  celebrated  Institute  of  the  Sisters 
of  Charity,  to  succor  the  countless  necessities  of  our  days. 
The  labors  of  the  Saints  are  "the  mustard  seed,"  of  which  our 
Lord  spoke,  "which  becometh  a  tree  so  that  the  birds  of  the 
air  come  and  dwell  in  the  branches  thereof."  Matt.  XIII,  32. 
A  society  so  helpful  to  humanity  soon  passed  beyond  the 
boundaries  of  France  and  even  of  Europe  and  crossing  the 
sea,  spread  over  the  whole  world ;  and  America  is  now  feeling 
the  salutary  effects  of  its  celestial  influence.  The  first  House 
of  the  Sisters  of  Charity  in  the  United  States  was  founded 
in  1809  by  some  American  ladies  in  a  country  place  called 
Saint  Joseph's  near  the  little  town  of  Emmitsburg  in  the  State 
of  Maryland,  diocese  of  Baltimore;  at  present  they  number 
more  than  three  hundred  and  have  the  direction  of  many 
orphanages,  schools  and  hospitals  in  various  parts  of  the 
Republic.  They  are  constantly  increasing  in  numbers  and  are 
more  and  more  acquiring  the  esteem  and  veneration  from  the 
whole  nation  to  the  great  benefit  of  the  Catholic  cause. 

For  a  thorough  comprehension  of  the  immense  utility 
of  this  Institute  in  the  United  States,  we  must  consider  that 
the  people  are  vivacious  and  active  by  nature  and  they  attach 
little  importance  to  any  Institutions  whether  Religious,  literary 
or  political  from  which  the  public  does  not  receive  considerable 
advantage.  Now  the  Sisters  of  Charity  present  to  the  nation 
a  constant  example  of  most  indefatigable  industry,  since  they 

[3531 


354    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

seem  to  exist  solely  for  the  benefit  of  others ;  thence  arises 
that  lofty  and  exalted  opinion  in  which  they  are  held  by  even 
the  Protestant  Americans. 

As  they  are  bound  by  a  simple  annual  Vow,  they  are  always 
contented  with  their  state,  being  free  to  leave  it  without  any 
difficulty  or  dishonor.  In  America  these  Religious  receive  a 
good  education,  to  render  them  fitted  to  fulfill  the  many 
important  duties  of  their  vocation.  Now  their  simple  Vow, 
the  superior  intelligence  of  the  majority  of  the  Sisters  and  the 
charitable  works  to  which  they  consecrate  their  lives,  are  cir- 
cumstances to  which  the  Protestant  republican  has  not  yet  been 
able  to  find  an  objection. 

The  modest  and  simple  black  robe  worn  by  the  Sisters, 
their  appearance  when  in  public  (always  no  less  than  two  to- 
gether), their  facility  in  working  for  the  interests  of  the  Insti- 
tute, the  cheerfulness  and  contentment  visible  in  their  coun- 
tenances, and  their  thoroughly  Religious  and  frank  manner 
of  asking  for  the  necessary  assistance  for  the  hospitals  and  the 
orphans,  are  just  motives  for  the  admiration  even  of  the  de- 
clared enemy  of  the  Catholic  Church. 

What  heart  would  not  be  moved  with  tenderest  compassion, 
seeing  a  venerable  Sister  surrounded  by  a  throng  of  orphans 
passing  along  the  street,  entering  the  shops,  the  business  houses 
of  the  merchants  of  all  Religious  denominations,  to  ask  some- 
times for  shoes,  for  wearing  material,  again  for  provisions 
and  again  for  money?  It  is  beautiful  then  to  see  this  throng 
of  little  ones  each  carrying  the  donation  received  from  the  edi- 
fying generosity  of  American  non-Catholics.  Protestantism  has 
nothing  like  it,  for,  at  the  most,  the  needy  children  will  be  in 
the  societies  founded  by  the  wealthy  and  benevolent,  from 
whom  their  own  needy  receive  ready  assistance ;  but  Catho- 
licity is  the  only  Religion  able  to  present  before  the  world,  the 
spectacle  of  the  voluntary  poor  who  take  it  upon  themselves  to 
provide  for  the  needs  of  poor  orphans,  with  whom  they  humble 
themselves  to  make  common  cause  for  love  of  Jesus  Christ. 

The  care  assumed  by  the  Sisters  of  Charity  for  the  orphans 
is  a  matter  of  great  surprise  to  one  who  does  not  know  that 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    355 

in  that  country  there  are  no  houses  for  such  an  object  endowed 
with  revenues  as  in  Europe,  but  that  they  depend  exclusively 
on  precarious  beneficence;  so  that  literally  they  must  say  to 
their  Heavenly  Father:  "Give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread." 
The  fervent  prayer  of  so  many  innocent  ones  is  always  heard, 
for  they  never  want  for  necessary  food  and  clothing. 

In  America  the  Sisters  have  a  number  of  orphanages  for 
boys  and  girls  whom  they  sometimes  receive  at  the  tender  age 
of  a  few  months ;  the  boys  at  the  age  of  twelve  are  placed 
by  the  Sisters  in  Catholic  homes  for  the  purpose  of  learning 
some  trade ;  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  these  are  free  to  choose 
their  own  life;  the  girls  also  are  provided  for  almost  in  the 
same  manner.  In  connection  with  the  orphan  asylums  are 
schools  for  poor  boys  and  for  poor  girls  where  without  any 
expense  they  receive  the  most  necessary  elements  of  education, 
and  what  is  yet  more  important  they  learn  the  doctrines  and 
practice  of  the  Catholic  Religion.  The  benefits  derived  from 
such  schools  are  almost  incalculable  in  a  country  where  the 
Catholics  form  only  one-ninth  of  the  population ;  these  schools 
might  be  considered  a  most  efficacious  means  in  propagating 
the  Faith ;  and  on  this  account,  they  deserve  all  the  greater 
consideration  of  the  many  wealthy  Catholics  of  Europe. 

Beside  the  care  of  the  orphans,  and  the  religious  schools, 
the  Sisters  of  Charity  are  occupied  in  hospitals  where  such  an 
enterprise  shows  itself  necessary.  According  to  their  Rule, 
they  do  not  go  to  the  sick  in  private  houses  or  in  public 
hospitals,  which  is  a  matter  of  prudence  in  a  non-Catholic 
country,  but  when  circumstances  are  favorable,  they  themselves 
build  a  house  to  serve  as  hospital,  and  availing  themselves 
of  the  full  liberty  guaranteed  by  law,  they  become  absolute 
owners  of  the  establishment  and  introduce  therein  all  the  reg- 
ulations suitable  to  a  Catholic  Hospital.  If  the  city  and  State 
wish  to  send  patients  there,  they  make  an  agreement  with  the 
Sisters  at  a  certain  fixed  rate,  a  rate  so  low  however,  as  to 
render  it  impossible  for  the  other  hospitals  to  receive  them  at 
such  terms.  Many  of  the  invalids  who  are  poor  and  not  at  the 
public  charge,  are  here  received  in  charity.     Many  persons 


356    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

also  who  are  not  poor  prefer  the  Sisters'  hospital  to  any  other 
in  case  of  illness,  and  pay  a  fixed  sum. 

These  hospitals  are  like  the  orphanages,  that  is  without 
any  revenue,  and  the  heavy  expenses  of  buildings  and  of 
maintaining  them  are  furnished  in  part  by  the  patients,  as  we 
have  said,  and  in  part  by  the  voluntary  alms  procured  by  the 
Sisters  themselves.  For  men  as  for  women,  servants  of  both 
sexes  are  employed  under  the  immediate,  absolute  and  inde- 
pendent authority  of  the  Religious,  who  lend  themselves  to 
every  work  that  befits  their  vocation  and  their  sex.  The  hos- 
pitals as  well  as  the  orphanages  are  the  property  of  the  Sisters, 
and  in  the  matter  of  administration  depend  upon  no  other 
person,  but  they  themselves  hold  possession  of  them. 

Among  the  patients  there  are  always  a  great  many  non- 
Catholics  and  it  is  a  fact  of  constant  occurrence  that  many, 
edified  by  the  exemplary  conduct  of  the  Sisters  and  convinced 
by  their  eloquent  and  holy  words,  abandon  their  errors  to 
embrace  the  Holy  Catholic  Faith  and  before  death  receive  the 
holy  Sacraments  of  Baptism,  Holy  Communion  and  Extreme 
Unction.  There  are  Catholics  there  who,  for  want  of  a  Priest, 
would  die  without  the  Sacraments  if  they  had  not  been 
received  into  the  Sisters'  hospitals.  Who  could  value  too 
highly  the  sendees  which  the  Sisters  of  Charity  render  in 
this  way  to  suffering  humanity  and  to  the  Church? 

Blessed  are  they  upon  the  earth  for  in  the  works  of  mercy 
they  have  a  sure  pledge  of  the  favorable  sentence  on  that 
dreadful  Day  of  the  Last  Judgment,  when  the  Judge  "as  the 
Shepherd — shall  set  the  sheep  on  His  Right  Hand  and  shall 
say — "Come  ye  blessed  of  my  Father;  I  was  hungry  and  you 
gave  Me  to  eat :  I  was  thirsty  and  you  gave  Me  to  drink :  I  was 
a  stranger  and  you  took  Me  in :  naked  and  you  covered  Me : 
sick  and  you  visited  Me :  I  was  in  prison  and  you  came  to  Me. 
Amen  I  say  to  you,  as  long  as  you  did  it  to  one  of  these  My 
brethren,  you  did  it  to  Me."     Matt.  XXV,  34,  35,  40. 

From  what  has  been  said  it  must  not  be  inferred  that  the 
Congregation  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity  is  the  only  female 
Institute  adapted   to   the   needs   of   the   American   Missions. 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    357 

There  are  Religious  of  other  Orders  who  are  of  the  very 
greatest  utility  to  the  edification  of  the  Church  in  their  several 
vocations :  The  Dominican  Sisters  of  the  Third  Order,  the 
Sisters  of  the  Visitation,  The  Ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart  and 
others.  The  education  of  young  girls  and  the  conversion  to 
the  Faith  of  many  non-Catholics  among  them  is  due  in  great 
measure  to  the  zeal  and  exemplary  lives  of  these  Communities. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

FOUNDATION  OF  ALL  THE  DIOCESES  OF  THE 
UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA— THE  SUC- 
CESSION OF  THEIR  BISHOPS. 

I 

DIOCESE    OF    BALTIMORE 

Comprises  the  State  of  Maryland  and  the  District  of 
Columbia :  *  erected  by  Pius  VI  in  the  year  1789 :  raised  by 
Pius  VII  to  Archiepiscopal  dignity  in  1808. 

First  Archbishop,  Monsignore  John  Carroll,  consecrated  in 
1790. 

Monsignore  Dominic  Graessel,  coadjutor  in  1793. 

Second,  Monsignore  Leonard  Neale,  formerly  coadjutor, 
consecrated  in  1795. 

Third,  Monsignore  Ambrose  Marechal,  formerly  coad- 
jutor, consecrated  in  1817. 

Fourth,  Monsignore  James  Whitfield,  formerly  coadjutor, 
consecrated  in  1828. 

Fifth,  Monsignore  Samuel  Eccleston,  consecrated  in  1834. 

Sixty-nine  Priests  and  59  Churches.f 

II 

DIOCESE  OF  NEW  ORLEANS 

Comprises  the  State  of  Louisiana,  was  erected  by  Pius 
VI  in  the  year  1793. 

*  The  extent  of  many  Dioceses  in  the  United  States  at  the  time  of 
their  erection  was  much  greater  than  that  given  in  this  Chapter:  after 
their  creation  they  had  been  subdivided  into  new  Dioceses. 

t  The  number  of  Priests  and  of  Churches  in  each  Diocese  increases 
year  by  year;  we  have  given  what  was  considered  correct  in  1843. 
Among  the  Priests  are  included  not  only  those  in  charge  of  souls,  but 
also  those  occupied  in  colleges,  schools,  Religious  Communities,  etc. 

[358] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    359 

First  Bishop,  Monsignore  Charles  Nerick,  Administrator 
at  pleasure  of  the  Archbishop  of  Baltimore,  consecrated  in 
1808.  .  "* 

Second,  Monsignore  William  Dubourg,  consecrated  in 
181 5.  Monsignore  Joseph  Rosati,  coadjutor,  consecrated  in 
1823. 

Third,  Monsignore  Leo  de  Neckere,  consecrated  in  1830. 
The  Right  Reverend  Auguste  Jean-Jean  declined  the  Episco- 
pacy in  1834. 

Fourth,  Monsignore  Antoine  Blanc,  consecrated  in  1835. 

Fifty-two  Priests  and  42  Churches. 


Ill 


DIOCESE  OF  NEW  YORK 

Comprises  the  State  of  New  York  and  eastern  half  of  the 
State  of  New  Jersey,  erected  by  Pius  VII  in  the  year  1808. 

First  Bishop,  Monsignore  Richard  Luke  Concanen,  Order 
of  Preachers,  consecrated  in  1808. 

Second,  Monsignore  John  Connolly,  of  the  Order  of 
Preachers,  consecrated  in  1814. 

Third,  Monsignore  John  Dubois,  consecrated  in  1826. 

Fourth,  Monsignore  John  Hughes,  consecrated  in  1838. 

Monsignore  John  McGoskey,  elected  coadjutor  in  1844. 

Seventy-one  Priests  and  83  Churches. 

IV 

DIOCESE  OF  BOSTON 

Comprises  the  States  of  Massachusetts,  Vermont,  New 
Hampshire  and  Maine,  erected  by  Pius  VII  in  the  year  1808. 

First  Bishop,  Monsignore  John  Cheverus,  consecrated  in 
1810. 

Second,  Monsignore  Benedict  Fenwick  consecrated  in  1825. 

Monsignore  John  Fitzpatrick,  elected  coadjutor  in  1846. 

Twenty-seven  Priests  and  25  Churches. 


360    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

V 

DIOCESE  OF  PHILADELPHIA 

Comprises  the  eastern  half  of  Pennsylvania,  the  State  of 
Delaware,  and  the  western  half  of  the  State  of  New  Jersey, 
erected  by  Pius  VII  in  the  year  1808. 

First  Bishop,  Monsignore  Michael  Egan,  Order  of  St. 
Francis,  consecrated  in  1810. 

Monsignore  Ambrose  Marechal  elected  in  1815;  resigned, 
and  afterwards  became  Archbishop  of  Baltimore. 

Second,  Monsignore  Louis  de  Barth,  consecrated  in  1817. 

Third,   Monsignore  Henry  Conwell,  consecrated  in   1820. 

Fourth,  Monsignore  Francis  Kenrick,  coadjutor,  conse- 
crated in  1830. 

Fifty  Priests  and  60  Churches. 

VI 

DIOCESE    OF    LOUISVILLE 

Comprises  the  State  of  Kentucky;  until  1841  the  Episcopal 
See  was  in  the  little  city  of  Bardstown,  erected  by  Pius  VII 
in  the  year  1810. 

First  Bishop,  Right  Rev.  Benedict  Joseph  Flaget,  conse- 
crated in  1810. 

Right  Rev.  John  Baptist  David,  coadjutor,  consecrated  in 
1818. 

Right  Rev.  Guy  Ignatius  Chabrat,  coadjutor. 

Fifty  Priests  and  40  Churches. 

VII 

DIOCESE  OF   CHARLESTON 

Comprises  the  three  States  of  South  Carolina,  North  Caro- 
lina and  Georgia  erected  by  Pius  VII  in  the  year  1820. 

First  Bishop,  Right  Rev.  John  England,  consecrated  in 
1820. 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    361 

Second  Bishop,  Right  Rev.  Ignatius  A.  Reynolds,  elected 
in  1843. 

Nineteen  Priests  and  16  Churches. 


VIII 

DIOCESE    OF    CINCINNATI 

Comprises  the  State  of  Ohio,  erected  by  Pius  VII  in  the 
year  1821. 

First  Bishop,  Right  Rev.  Edward  D.  Fenwick,  Order  of 
Preachers,  consecrated  in  1822. 

Second,  Right  Rev.  John  Baptist  Purcell,  consecrated  in 

1833. 

Forty-seven  Priests  and  50  Churches. 

IX 

DIOCESE   OF   ST.    LOUIS 

Comprises  the  State  of  Missouri,  erected  by  Leo  XII  in 
1826. 

First  Bishop,  Right  Rev.  Joseph  Rosati,  administrator  of 
the  diocese  of  New  Orleans,  consecrated  in  1823. 

Second,  Right  Rev.  Peter  Richard  Kenrick,  coadjutor,  con- 
secrated in  1 841. 

Forty-five  Priests  and  50  Churches. 

X 

DIOCESE  OF   MOBILE 

Comprises  the  State  of  Alabama  and  the  Territory  of  Flor- 
ida, erected  by  Leo  XII  in  the  year  1826. 

First  Bishop,  Right  Rev.  Michael  Portier,  consecrated  in 
1826. 

Twelve  Priests  and  7  Churches. 


362    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

XI 

DIOCESE  OF  VINCENNES 

Comprises  the  State  of  Indiana,  erected  by  Gregory  XVI 
in  the  year  1834. 

First  Bishop,  Right  Rev.  Simon  William  Gabriel  Brute 
de  Remur,  consecrated  in  1834. 

Second,  Right  Rev.  Celestine  de  la  Hailandiere,  conse- 
crated in  1839. 

Twenty-seven  Priests  and  30  Churches. 

XII 

DIOCESE  OF  DETROIT 

Comprises  the  State  of  Michigan,  erected  by  Gregory  XVI 
in  the  year  1833. 

First  Bishop,  Right  Rev.   Frederic  Rese,  consecrated  in 

^33- 

Second,   Right   Rev.    Peter   Paul   Lefevre,   administrator, 

consecrated  in  1841. 

Fourteen  Priests  and  20  Churches. 

XIII 

DIOCESE  OF  DUBUQUE 

Comprises  the  Territory  of  Iowa,  erected  by  Gregory  XVI 
in  1837. 

First  Bishop,  Right  Rev.  Mathias  Loras,  consecrated  by 
Gregory  XVI  in  1837. 

Twelve  Priests  and  10  Churches. 

XIV 

DIOCESE  OF    NASHVILLE 

Comprises  the  State  of  Tennessee,  erected  by  Gregory  XVI. 
First  Bishop,  Right  Rev.  Richard  Pius  Miles,  O.  P.,  con- 
secrated in  1838. 

Seven  Priests  and  5  Churches. 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    363 

XV 

DIOCESE  OF  NATCHEZ 

Comprises  the  State  of  Mississippi,  erected  by  Gregory 
XVI  in  1837. 

The  Very  Rev.  Thomas  Heyden  refused  the  Bishopric  in 

1837. 

First  Bishop,  Right  Rev.  John  J.  Chanche,  consecrated  in 
1841. 

Four  Priests  and  only  1  Church. 

XVI 

DIOCESE  OF  RICHMOND 

Comprises  the  State  of  Virginia,  erected  by  Pius  VII  and 
administered  by  the  Archbishop  of  Baltimore  until  the  year 
1841. 

First  Bishop,  Right  Rev.  Patrick  Kelly,  consecrated  in 
1820. 

Bishop,  Right  Rev.  Richard  Vincent  Whelan,  consecrated 
in  1 841. 

Seven  Priests  and  10  Churches. 

XVII 

DIOCESE  OF  PITTSBURG 

Comprises  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  erected  by  Gregory 
XVI,  in  the  year  1843. 

First  Bishop,  Right  Rev.  Michael  O'Connor,  consecrated 
in  1843. 

Thirty  Priests  and  25  Churches. 

XVIII 

DIOCESE  OF  HARTFORD 

Comprises  the   States   of   Connecticut   and   Rhode   Island, 
erected  by  Gregory  XVI  in  the  year  1843. 


364    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

First  Bishop,  Right  Rev.  William  Tyler,  elected  in  1844. 
Seven  Priests  and  8  Churches. 

XIX 

DIOCESE   OF    MILWAUKEE 

Comprises  the  Territory  of  Wisconsin,  erected  by  Gregory 
XVI  in  the  year  of  1843. 

First  Bishop,  Right  Rev.  Martin  Henni,  elected  in  1843. 
Five  Priests  and  10  Churches. 

XX 

DIOCESE  OF   CHICAGO 

Comprises  the  State  of  Illinois,  erected  by  Gregory  XVI  in 
the  year  1843. 

First  Bishop,  Right  Rev.  William  Quarter,  elected  in  1843. 
Twenty-three  Priests  and  16  Churches. 

XXI 

DIOCESE  OF  LITTLE   ROCK 

Comprises  the  State  of  Arkansas,  erected  by  Gregory  XVI 
in  the  year  1843. 

First  Bishop,  Right  Rev.  Andrew  Byrne,  elected  in  1844. 
Four  Priests  and  three  Churches. 

XXII 

VICARIATE  APOSTOLIC  OF  OREGON 

Comprises  those  vast  tracts  belonging  to  the  United  States 
which  extend  from  the  western  boundaries  of  the  Territory  of 
Iowa,  the  States  of  Missouri  and  Arkansas  to  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  erected  by  Gregory  XVI  in  the  year  1843. 

First  Bishop,  Right  Rev.  Francis  N.  Blanchet,  elected  in 

1843. 

This  Mission  has  probably  ten  Priests. 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    365 

XXIII 

VICARIATE  APOSTOLIC   OF  TEXAS 

Comprises  the  Republic  of  Texas,  erected  by  Gregory  XVI 
in  the  year  1841. 

First  Bishop,  Right  Rev.  John  Baptist  Mary  Odin,  C.  M., 
consecrated  in  1842. 


CHAPTER  IX 

PROVINCIAL  COUNCILS  OF  BALTIMORE. 

It  is  an  incontrovertible  fact,  that  wherever  the  Church  of 
Jesus  Christ  has  enjoyed  perfect  liberty  in  the  exercise  of  her 
beneficent  influence,  to  propagate  the  Faith  and  maintain  her 
Religious  practices,  her  Bishops  have  from  time  to  time  assem- 
bled in  Council  in  order  to  fitly  govern  the  flock  entrusted  to 
them  by  the  Supreme  Pastor  of  souls.  Availing  themselves, 
therefore,  of  the  non-interference  by  the  Government  of  the 
Republic  of  the  United  States  in  the  matter  of  Catholicity, 
the  Bishops  of  those  regions  held  several  Provincial  Councils. 

The  first  was  celebrated  in  the  month  of  October,  1829. 
There  were  present  the  Archbishop  of  Baltimore  and  five 
Bishops.    Thirty-eight  Decrees  were  formulated. 

The  second  was  held  in  the  month  of  October,  1833.  The 
Archbishop  and  nine  Bishops  were  present.  Eleven  decrees 
were  drawn  up. 

The  third  was  held  in  the  month  of  April,  1837.  The 
Archbishop  and  nine  Bishops  were  present.  Eleven  decrees 
were  drawn  up,  and  the  Holy  See  was  petitioned  for  the  erec- 
tion of  three  new  Bishoprics. 

The  fourth  was  held  in  the  month  of  May,  1840.  The 
Archbishop  and  twelve  Bishops  were  present.  Eleven  decrees 
were  formulated. 

The  fifth  was  held  in  the  month  of  May,  1843.  The  Arch- 
bishop and  fifteen  Bishops  were  present.  Eleven  decrees 
were  drawn  up  and  also  a  petition  to  the  Holy  See  for  the 
erection  of  five  new  Sees  and  one  Vicariate  Apostolic. 

It  belongs  exclusively  to  the  Prelates  assembled  in  Council 
to  propose  for  each  Bishopric  three  names  from  which  the 
Supreme  Pontiff  selects  that  one  who  will  occupy  the  Epis- 
copal See. 

[366] 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    367 

STATISTICS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA   FROM  1820  TO  1840 

Number  of            Population  Population  Increase  of 

Names  of  States                      square  miles               in  the  in  the  population 

and  Territories                      of  each  State            year  1820  year  1840  during  20  years 

Maine 38,250       298,335  501, 793  203,458 

N.  Hampshire 9,200        244,161  284,594  40,433 

Vermont 9,800        235,764  291,948  56,184 

Massachusetts   8,780        523,287  737,699  214,412 

Rhode  Island 1,300         83,059  108,830  25,771 

Connecticut    5, 100        275,248  310,015  34,767 

New  York 49,000     1,372,812  2,428,921  1,056,109 

New  Jersey   5,500       277,575  373,3°6  95>73i 

Pennsylvania   47,500     1,049,458  1,724,022  674,564 

Delaware    2,200          72,749  78,085  5-336 

Maryland   11,150       407,350  469,232  61,882 

Virginia    66,624     1,065,366  1,239,797  1 74,43 1 

Dist.  of  Columbia. . .        100         33,039  43,712  10,675 

N.  Carolina  49,500        638,829  753,110  114,281 

S.Carolina 3i>75<>       502,741  594,39$  91.657 

Georgia 60,500        340,989  677,197  336,208 

Alabama   32,900        127,901  569,645  441,744 

Mississippi   37,68o         75,448  375,651  300,203 

Louisiana    43-300       153,407  35M/6  197,769 

Ohio   40,260       58i,434  i,5J9,467  938,033 

Indiana    36,500        147,178  683,314  536,136 

Illinois    59,900          55,2ii  474,404  4W93 

Missouri   68,800         66,586  381,102  3i4,5l6 

Kentucky   40,500       564,317  777,397  213,080 

Tennessee   40,200       422,813  829,210  406,397 

Michigan    59,700           8,896  211,705  202,809 

Arkansas    60,700          i4,273  95-641  81,368 

Terr,  of  Florida 55,680         19,540  54,207  34,667 

Terr,  of  Wisconsin..   90,720         3°>752  3°,753 

Terr,  of  Iowa* 950,000 43,o68  43>°68 

Total    9,657,766  17,013,398  7,355,632 

*  The  950,000  square  miles  comprise  not  only  that  part  of  Iowa  now 

organized  into  a  Territorial  Government,  but  also  those  vast  regions 

near    it    to    the   west,    towards    the    Pacific  Ocean,    called    by    some 
geographers,  the  Territory  of  Missouri. 


INDEX 


Introduction  by  the  Most  Reverend  John  Ireland,  D.  D. 
Translator's  Preface. 
Author's  Preface. 

MEMOIRS  OF  MISSIONS  AMONG  VARIOUS  INDIAN 
TRIBES  AND  AMONG  THE  CANADIANS  IN 
THE  TERRITORIES  OF  WISCONSIN  AND 
MICHIGAN. 

I.  The  Vocation  of  the  Priest  to  the  Propagation  of  the 
Faith. 

II.  Departure  and  Voyage  of  the  Missionary  of  the  Order 
of  Preachers  from  Rome  to  Cincinnati  in  the  United  States  of 
America. 

III.  Study  of  the  English  Language.  Visit  to  the  Convent 
of  Saint  Rose.  Preparation  for  the  Priesthood  in  the  Con- 
vent of  Saint  Joseph.  Ordination  to  the  Deaconship  and 
Priesthood. 

IV.  Departure  from  Cincinnati  for  Mackinac.  Description 
of  This  Island.    First  Visit  to  Green  Bay  and  to  the  Savages. 

V.  The  Infallibility  of  the  Church.  The  Supremacy  of  the 
Pope.  The  Real  Presence  of  Christ  in  the  Holy  Eucharist. 
Confession.  Purgatory.  The  Intercession  of  the  Saints.  The 
Use  of  Holy  Images.  Antichrist.  Subjects  of  Six  Discourses 
Delivered  by  a  Calvinistic  Minister  in  183 1. 

VI.  Conversion  of  Three  Protestants  to  the  Catholic  Faith 
on  the  Island  of  Mackinac  in  183 1. 

VII.  Example  of  Public  Penance  Practiced  by  a  Catholic 
in  the  year  1831. 

[369I 


370    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

VIII.  Mission  at  Green  Bay.  Conversion  of  Savages  of 
the  Menominee  Tribe.  Baptism,  Confirmation  and  Holy  Com- 
munion of  the  same  during  the  year  1831. 

IX.  Physical  and  Moral  Condition  of  the  Indian  Tribes 
occupying  the  Territories  of  Michigan,  Wisconsin  and  Iowa. 

X.  Description  of  the  Wooden  Church  erected  at  Green 
Bay  in  1831. 

XI.  First  Visit  to  the  Village  of  Sainte  Marie  upon  Saint 
Mary's  River  in  1831. 

XII.  An  account  of  the  Mission  of  the  Reverend  F.  Baraga 
at  Arbre  Croche,  among  the  Indians  of  the  Ottawa  Tribe. 

XIII.  Indians  Converted  at  Mackinac.  Catholics  at  Point 
Saint  Ignace.  Death  of  an  Old  Man.  Sincere  conversion  of 
Another. 

XIV.  Other  Savages  Baptized  at  Green  Bay.  Spiritual 
Exercises  at  Mackinac.  Bishop  Fenwick:  His  Fear  of  God's 
Judgments.  Thirty-two  marriages  Solemnized  at  the  Village 
of  Sainte  Marie. 

XV.  Signs  of  War  with  the  Savages.  Manner  and  Diffi- 
culties of  Traveling  in  Wisconsin  Territory  in  1832.  A  Night 
Astray  from  the  Right  Path.  The  Catholics  of  Prairie  du 
Chien.    Return  to  Mackinac. 

XVI.  Visit  to  Arbre-Croche.  The  Reverend  F.  Baraga. 
Snow  Shoes.  Old  Arbre  Croche.  Lament  of  an  Old  Indian 
Woman,  and  Grief  of  a  young  Brave.  Return  to  Island  of 
Mackinac. 

XVII.  Ordinary  Duties  of  a  Missionary.  Dogmatic  Ser- 
mons Necessary  for  Catholics  living  among  Sectarians. 

XVIII.  First  Mission  to  the  Tribe  of  Winnebagos  in  1833. 
Their  Vices  are  opposed  to  the  Gospel.     Several  Conversions. 

XIX.  Mission  at  Sainte  Marie.  Sectarian  Opposition.  Sal- 
utary Effects  of  this  Visit.    A  Bear  Killed  and  Eaten. 

XX.  The  Winnebago  Indians  Evangelized.  Many  Receive 
Baptism.  Proofs  of  True  Conversion.  A  Little  Prayer-Book 
in  their  Language  Printed  in  1833. 

XXI.  The  Diocese  of  Cincinnati  is  Divided.  The  Mission- 
ary is  sent  to  Green  Bay.     The  Indians  of  the  Menominee 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    371 

Tribe  at  Church,  where  they  Sing  and  Receive  Instructions 
through  an  Interpreter. 

XXII.  Confession  through  an  Interpreter. 

XXIII.  The  Holy  Communion  among  the  Indians. 

XXIV.  Visits  to  the  Indians  on  their  Fishing  Voyages. 
Remarkable  Circumstances  Connected  with  these.  Conver- 
sion of  many  Indians  in  1834. 

XXV.  A  Church  among  the  Indians,  Walled  and  Roofed 
with  Mats. 

XXVI.  The  Anglican  Mission  at  Green  Bay  receives  the 
Annual  Sum  of  $2,100,  in  Justice  due  to  the  Catholic  Missions. 

XXVII.  False  Methods  of  Protestants  in  Converting  the 
Indians. 

XXVIII.  Protestant  Missions  among  the  various  Indian 
Tribes  in  Wisconsin  Territory  and  vicinity  in  1834. 

XXIX.  Missions  among  the  Winnebago  Tribes  in  the  year 
1834.  Conversion,  Baptism  and  Burial  Rites  of  an  Aged  In- 
dian Woman.  An  Experience  with  Rattlesnakes.  How  the 
Progress  of  the  Faith  was  Impeded. 

XXX.  Mission  to  Prairie  du  Chien  in  the  year  1825. 

XXXI.  State  of  the  Catholic  Missions  among  the  Indian 
Tribes  when  the  Missionary  left  them  to  the  Care  of  his  Suc- 
cessors. 

XXXII.  Religion  is  the  sole  Means  of  Civilization  for  the 
Indians.    The  great  Obstacles  in  the  way  of  its  Progress. 


BOOK  II 

MEMOIRS  OF  MISSIONS  AMONG  THE  CATHOLICS 
AND  PROTESTANTS  IN  THE  TERRITORIES 
OF  IOWA  AND  WISCONSIN  AND  IN  THE 
STATE  OF  ILLINOIS. 

I.  How  the  Missionary  after  Working  for  the  Propagation 
of  the  Faith  among  the  Savages  was  appointed  to  the  Mis- 


372    MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

sions  in  the  Northern  Part  of  the  Regions  bordering  on  the 
Mississippi. 

II.  The  Three  Classes  of  Missions  in  the  United  States 
of  America. 

III.  Origin  of  the  Episcopal  City  of  Dubuque  in  the  Ter- 
ritory of  Iowa.  The  First  Catholics  and  the  First  Priests. 
The  Building  of  a  New  Church  begun  in  1835. 

IV.  The  Town  of  Galena:  its  Origin.  The  First  Priests 
who  visited  the  Town.  In  1835  the  first  Stone  of  its  Church 
was  laid. 

V.  Spirit  of  the  Civil  Laws  of  the  United  States  in  their 
Relation  to  the  Catholic  Religion  and  to  all  Religious  Sects, 
already  Founded  or  to  be  Founded. 

VI.  The  Missionary  rarely  has  an  Opportunity  to  approach 
the  Sacrament  of  Penance.  Account  of  his  Ministry  till  the 
summer  of  1836. 

VII.  A  brief  Account  of  the  Churches  of  Dubuque  and 
Galena. 

VIII.  The  Territorial  Government  of  Wisconsin  is  Estab- 
lished. The  Priest  in  the  First  Legislative  Assembly.  How 
Church  Property  is  protected  by  the  Civil  Laws. 

IX.  A  Long  Journey  by  Sleigh  in  Wisconsin  Territory  in 
the  year  1837. 

X.  Description  of  the  Foundation  of  the  Town  of  Daven- 
port upon  the  Mississippi.  How  Civilization  is  introduced 
into  a  New  Town. 

XL  Protestant  Ministers  and  their  Modes  of  Preaching, 
in  the  Western  States.  Effects  of  a  Religious  Excitement. 
Ministers  on  the  Missions. 

XII.  Creation  of  the  Bishopric  of  Dubuque  in  1837. 

XIII.  Principal  Causes  that  Contribute  to  the  Formation 
of  New  Dioceses  in  the  United  States. 

XIV.  A  few  of  the  Corporal  Sufferings  on  the  Missions. 

XV.  Missions  in  Wisconsin  in  February,  1838.  The  Priest 
Domiciled  in  the  Church. 

XVI.  The  Priest  in  Peril  of  his  Life  on  the  Mississippi  in 
March.  1838. 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.    373 

XVII.  The  Building  of  the  Church  in  Galena  is  Resumed. 
The  Salutary  Effects  of  Disinterestedness  on  the  part  of  a 
Priest  on  the  Missions. 

XVIII.  Attendance  on  the  Sick  in  1838. 

XIX.  The  Territory  of  Iowa  organized  in  1838.  Its  Peo- 
ple.    Its  Products,  Climate  and  Towns. 

XX.  How  the  Government  of  the  United  States  comes 
into  Possession  of  the  vast  Regions  once  Inhabited  by  the 
Indians. 

XXI.  First  Establishment  of  Catholicity  at  Snake  Dig- 
gings, now  Potosi.    The  Church  of  Saint  Thomas  built  there. 

XXII.  The  Mission :  Its  State  previous  to  the  Arrival  of 
the  Bishop  of  Dubuque  in  1839. 

XXIII.  Monsignore  Mathias  Loras  Returns  from  Europe, 
takes  Possession  of  his  Cathedral  Church  of  Dubuque,  Visits 
the  Town  of  Galena. 

XXIV.  Spiritual  Progress  at  Dubuque.  Departure  and  Re- 
turn of  the  Bishop.  Illness  of  the  Missionary.  Condition  of 
the  Episcopacy  in  that  City. 

XXV.  Dogmatic  Discussions  in  the  Church  at  Galena  in 
the  Autumn  of   1839. 

XXVI.  Conversion  of  a  Lawyer  to  Catholicity.  Why 
Converts  are  Baptized  Conditionally. 

XXVII.  First  Visit  to  the  Town  of  Burlington  where  some 
Warlike  Preparations  did  not  allow  a  long  delay. 

XXVIII.  Church  of  Saint  Patrick  at  Makoqueta,  which 
Serves  as  a  Centre  for  Immigration  of  Catholics  thither.  How 
a  Church  becomes  a  Source  of  Church  Property. 

XXIX.  How  Settlers  obtain  Possession  of  the  Land  from 
the  Government. 

XXX.  Conversion  and  Baptism  of  a  Mother  and  her  Eight 
Children. 

XXXI.  The  Church  of  Saint  Gabriel  the  Archangel  at 
Prairie  du  Chien  and  that  of  Saint  Paul  at  Burlington  are 
built  in  1840. 

XXXII.  Several   Congregations  of   Catholics  are  Visited 


;S74      MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P. 

by  the  Bishop  accompanied  by  his  Vicar.    The  Senate  of  Iowa 
in  the  Catholic  Church  of  Burlington. 

XXXIII.  Progress  of  the  Territory  of  Iowa.  The  Differ- 
ence between  its  Government  and  that  of  a  State.  Founding 
of  Iowa  City.  Counties  of  the  Territory.  Its  Organization 
into  One  Sovereign  State,  in  the  near  Future. 

XXXIV.  Beginning  of  Catholic  Worship  in  Iowa  City  in 
1840.  A  Church  is  Erected  there.  Cause  of  a  Conversion  to 
Catholicity. 

XXXV.  The  Church  of  Saint  Matthew  at  Shullsburg  in 
Wisconsin.     Account  of  the  Lead  Mines. 

XXXVI.  Beginning  of  Catholic  Worship  in  Burlington, 
Iowa  Territory. 

XXXVII.  The  Temperance  Society.  Its  Salutary  Effects 
upon  the  Cause  of  Catholicity  in  America. 

XXXVIII.  The  Bible.  The  Protestant  Reformation  of  the 
Sixteenth  and  the  Apostolic  Mission.  Subjects  of  many  Dis- 
courses in  Defense  of  Catholicism.  Attacked  by  Protestant 
Ministers  in  Galena. 

XXXIX.  Conversion  of  a  Young  Protestant  to  the  Cath- 
olic Faith  in  1842. 

XL.  Missions  among  the  Indians  in  the  Diocese  of  Du- 
buque. 

XLI.  The  Church  of  Saint  Augustine  at  Sinsinawa  in  Wis- 
consin.   Account  of  Saint  Michael's  at  Galena  in  1842. 

XLII.  Upon  what  Occasion  the  Priest  decided  to  Visit 
his  Native  Land.     Conversions  to  the  Faith  in  Burlington  in 

i843- 

XLIII.  The  False  Prophet  Joseph  Smith.  The  Golden 
Book  of  Mormon.  The  Sect  of  the  "Latter  Day  Saints"  and 
their  Absurd  Doctrines. 

XLIV.  Departure  of  the  Missionary  from  Galena.  He 
assists  at  the  Council  of  Baltimore.  Crosses  the  Ocean  and 
Arrives  at  Milan. 


MEMOIRS  OF  FATHER  MAZZUCHELLI,  O.  P.      375 

BOOK  III 

PROTESTANTISM   AND   THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 
IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

I.  The  Spirit  of  Protestantism. 

II.  Principal  Protestant  Sects  in  the  United  States. 

III.  The  Press,  the  Preaching  and  the  Education  of  the 
Protestants  of  the  United  States  in  their  Relations  to  the 
Catholic  Church. 

IV.  The  Catholic  Mission  in  the  United  States. 

V.  The  Priest  in  America. 

VI.  Religious  Orders  in  the  United  States. 

VII.  The  Sisters  of  Charity. 

VIII.  Foundation  of  All  the  Dioceses  of  the  United  States 
of  America.     Succession  of  their  Bishops. 

IX.  The  Provincial  Councils  of  Baltimore.  Statistics  of 
the  United  States  of  America  from  1820  to  1840. 


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